What Hides Beneath the Surface
by VioletDragonian
Summary: Ladybug is the infamous pirate known for making Captain Hawkmoth's life hell. When her luck finally runs out, he does the best thing he can think of to be rid of her forever - throw her into The Cataclysm, of course. The dark side of the ocean that hides something no one has ever seen and lived to tell the tale of.
1. Drowned in the Dark

"After her, you fools!"

The young lass, clad in red and black and standing atop a building roof, turned and saluted the purple uniformed man screeching toward her. Her grin was wide, fingers on her brow confident and mocking, and she curtsied for good measure. "A pleasure, Captain. Until next time." Her words were strong, confident as her pose, as she stepped backward off the roof and disappeared behind it.

When the swarm of guards made it into the cobbled alley behind the tavern an instant later, she was already leagues ahead of them, taking a moment to turn back and blow a kiss at them. They gave chase, trying to take advantage of her cockiness, but she slipped behind the next corner like smoke. The tails of her long coat streamed behind her as she ran, her boots practically dancing silently across the cobbles as the soldiers' boots were an ungraceful thudding by comparison.

She burst into the town square, narrowly avoiding running face first into an unwitting citizen, and sidestep-running around them with an apologetic, dazzling smile. The guards followed suit a split second later, and she looked back ahead again as she ran, wincing at the crashing clamour that no doubt was one of them crashing into that same poor citizen. At least that would have removed one from her tail, anyway.

More people scrambled out of the way of the chase as she dashed through the town. A few actually tried to tackle her, probably a meaningless attempt at getting in good favor with the town Captain, but she ducked under them and effortlessly avoided their grasping hands all the same, leaving behind nothing but would-be so-called do-gooders dazed and confused at her escape.

She was nearly at the edge of the city when her confidence nearly did her in, looking back to see how many guards were left, and having only moments to react to the cart in her path when she did look ahead again. All the same, she took it in stride, and let her momentum take her feet from under her, sliding right underneath it to the other side. There, she scrambled back upright as fast as possible, cackling at the sound of guards crashing into the cart behind her. The smarter, or faster ones, made their way around it and she took off again with them nearly close enough to nick at her tails with their cutlasses.

But it wasn't enough, she was still too slick for their grasp. With a mighty leap, she hopped onto a stack of barrels, and danced up and up with wide steps. At the top, she jumped onto another roof and ran smoothly over its uneven surface. Even as the guards poured over the edge to follow along, a few losing their footing and stumbling to the streets below, she made her way as if it were any normal path.

They were finally at the city walls now, and all she had to do was take a leap of faith. Her luck yet to fail her in all these years, she didn't hesitate as she pushed herself into the air and tucked her legs under her. The guards skidded to a stop at the edge of the roof, before being pushed off anyway as the ones behind them crashed into them, leaving the entire city guard collapsed in a dazed heap on the ground. Above them, she sailed through the air like a bird, clearing the wall with inches to spare.

Outside the city, she hit the grassy ground in a roll, and tumbled right back into a speedy dash, there were angry shouts and swears from within the walls behind her, but the guards would have to make it through the gate and catch back up to her now. As it stood, she was practically home free.

All she had to do now was make it back to her ship.

Open field stretched out before her, the ground tilting up toward the rising cliffs above the ocean. The tall grass tried to snag on her feet, but she pushed through it, even as she stumbled a bit. She still had a hell of a lead, and anything that tripped her up would also trip up her pursuers, making the chase fair game still. The shouts were growing closer, the swarm having made it out of the confines of the city walls, but she wasn't concerned. The edge of the cliff grew ever nearer, and suddenly, the grass gave way to open blue skies and equally blue ocean, stretching the length of the horizon for as far as the eye could see.

Her eyes grew wide as her grin, and she took a deep breath, reveling in the freshness of the sea that was so undoubtedly hers. The waves were her forever home, her ship her safety net. She was a creature of the ocean, never to stay on land for long.

And now, she would return, successful as always and free as a bird.

Then, with a loud bang, her world spun from beneath her.

The fresh air of the sea turned to pain, the horizon a blur. Her body met the grass, and her blue eyes met the cold, victorious stare of her nemesis.

"Not today, Ladybug. Your luck has finally run out."

* * *

At first she couldn't tell where she was at all, her head pounding and her vision swam as she tried to focus it. Nonetheless, eventually, the boards under her body came into view, and the lurching of the ship became distinguished from the spinning feeling inside her own sense of balance.

The burning sensation of the bullet wound somewhere in her chest was surprisingly dull, drowned out mostly by the overwhelming nausea rising somewhere under it. Her hands and feet felt numb, and cold. The longer she pulled into consciousness, the more she wished to not be awake at all. With each new sensation she noticed, the more she realized just how badly her luck had abandoned her.

Trying to lift her head did nothing but bring another rush of pain and nausea, and it disturbed the guard somewhere behind her, if the firm boot that appeared in her back meant anything. It pressed down, hard, forcing her beaten body back into a contorted shape on the floor.

"She's up." The voice was gruff, straight to the point. Somewhere further away, there was scuffling, and footsteps that drew nearer.

"Good." That was the Captain, without a doubt. She could recognize his Better Than You tone even if she was actively dying, although that thought might not be too far from the truth considering the situation she was currently in, and how she was feeling worse by the second. "You've given us quite the trouble in your time, haven't you, Ladybug?"

"Hawkmoth." She just spat back, saying no more. Her tone dripped acid.

"Someone sounds a little bit like a sore loser."

If she'd been anywhere else, in any better condition, and preferably with the upper hand like normal, she'd have made a quip about an accidental pun just to make him angry. Now, though, she just growled, only to have it descend into a horrifically painful coughing fit. While she convulsed around her injuries, he just laughed.

No sooner had her fit ended did his hand find its way into her hair, dragging her roughly to her feet. Or at least he tried to, her legs wouldn't support her weight and Hawkmoth ended up just holding her up entirely by her hair, making her already pounding headache burn in agony. Her vision blurred worse than before, but she could still see the dark ocean she was facing.

"Do you know this place, Ladybug?" The Captain growled, and she bit back a remark about not being able to tell up from down right now, much less where in the entire goddamn ocean she happens to have been kidnapped to. "It has a few different names, but I think you'll know it by its most common. Welcome to The Cataclysm."

Ladybug's blood ran cold. Yes, she did know this place. Everyone knew this place. Large ships didn't leave here without scratches, smaller ships left in pieces, fishing boats didn't leave at all. If someone was lost overboard here, their crewmates told stories of how they'd be fine one moment, treading water, and the next be violently yanked underneath and never seen again. Some told stories of the water running red after ships being torn apart particularly savagely within its waters. No one even knew what did it, what caused the area to be so dangerous, because even on the sunniest days the water could be black as night. No one knew what lay below the surface.

"Of course you know it, Ladybug." He chuckled. He must've seen the hallowed expression on her face. "So you know no one has ever returned from a dip in these waters alive. Sounds like the perfect place to dispose of a pest, don't you think?"

Oh, this man was evil. If she died here she was going to return as a ghost and haunt his vindictive ass, mark her words.

"Well, I suppose that's it then. All's well that ends well. Greet the monster of the depths for us, won't you, Ladybug?"

With that, she was tossed ungracefully overboard, her limp body breaking the surface and sinking far, far faster than it should have. Her instinct was to swim up and stay with the air, even disoriented and injured as she was, but she instantly found that impossible. Her arms wouldn't obey her movement whatsoever, and it took far too long for her sluggish brain to comprehend that her wrists were bound behind her back - by chains.

Trying to kick upwards had the same effect. Her feet were tied too, chained together… and weighted by something heavy. It was dragging her impossibly deep into the pitch black water, her fate looking more and more sealed with each passing second.

She couldn't breathe, her head was pounding, her chest was burning. The salt water stung her eyes as she opened them and looked desperately around for something, anything, to save herself with. But the water was too dark to see through, the surface was long gone, swallowed up and leaving her in a pure pitch void all around. She couldn't wiggle out of the chains, she couldn't swim, she could see her blood leaving a red trail above her for just a second before it diluted and vanished into the dark.

If the water wasn't already so dark, she'd see the edges of her vision closing in as her body gave up without air. Her head was already too jumbled, too stuffy, and her chest already hurting too badly, for her to notice the other effects of drowning. From her perspective, it was all just an agonizingly long wait for everything to go blank, unable to tell how much longer she would suffer for.

The last thing she saw was green eyes, cat eyes, glowing from the darkness.


	2. Under the Ocean

**help I accidentally posted this as the chapter 2 to my other miraculous fic instead what is my life**

* * *

The next time she awoke, she felt cold. None of the past day registered in her mind, a vague fogginess coating her memories as she twisted with a groan. The ground under her was hard, rocky, and wet. Somewhere, water dripped, and echoed.

Opening her eyes showed her much the same. A dark rock ceiling stretched overhead, jagged edges jutting down toward her. That was where Ladybug stayed, for several long minutes, trying to remember how in the world she ended up in a damp cave. She took in the darkness around her, only able to see vague shapes and nothing more, and smelled the musky scent of dead air that may have never seen the sun.

Finally, after a long time of mugging through the haze in her mind, the memory of Hawkmoth getting the best of her snapped to the surface like she'd been drenched in cold water. She gasped, and bolted upright, only to groan and curl into her legs. Her head spun as soon as she'd moved it, and her chest protested against where she'd been shot.

Clearly, she wasn't dead yet, if the pain was any indication. But that still left the explanation of how she got here. The last thing she remembered was drowning, thrown overboard into the Cataclysm and weighted down to sink into its depths.

Speaking of, her eyes trailed down to her wrists. Not that she could really see much more than a pale outline of her own skin, but they were unbound and free. Moving one leg into the air, her ankles proved much the same. Somehow, she'd both miraculously escaped drowning, and gotten free of her chains and weights, all with no memory of how. Something didn't add up, people didn't just magically escape death after passing out, no matter how previously lucky they'd been.

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt when a new sound suddenly echoed around the small cavern. Nearby, there was a large pool in the floor, and she could hear the water splashing around something. Something big, if her ears weren't betraying her. It was too dark to see at all, but it sounded like something had just pulled itself out of that water and was now dragging itself up the rock toward her.

Even to the protest of her wounds, she scooted backward, trying to press herself into the wall as silently as possible. Maybe whatever it was wouldn't be able to see any better than her, and would leave if she didn't make any noise. Soon the sound of it moving reached the spot she'd previously been in, and stopped. Knowing where it was, but now unable to see and hear it, was worse than hearing it ominously move toward her. Somewhere in her battered brain, she likened it to seeing a spider, and then not seeing the spider anymore.

Ladybug's complete lack of vision didn't last for long, though. The cave was still as dark as ever, but the unknown creature before her swung its head, looking around, and when it turned to face her, its glowing green eyes pierced the darkness and came into focus. They were the only thing she could see, and burned themselves into her memory.

Except they were already there, she realized. With a gasp, the blurry image of those same eyes appearing in the dark, suffocating water came to mind.

It didn't matter that she'd made a noise, because it had already seen her the instant she saw it. Those cat shaped eyes loomed and bobbed through the darkness, getting bigger along with the noise of the creature moving again as it approached. She was frozen in place, pressing harder against the jabbing wall behind her purely out of tense fear.

After what felt like forever, it stopped. The eyes were floating directly in front of her face, staring intently down at her, and she felt more than heard as it gave a deep huff and its breath wafted over her face. It smelled like fish, and almost like blood. That's where they both stayed for several long seconds, the green eyes disappearing periodically as the thing sat there and blinked at her, and she tried to remember to breathe. Neither moved otherwise, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

Finally, after what felt like hours of agonizing tension, it huffed again, and then coughed. It sounded like it was clearing its throat, followed by a deep growl, and then another cough. Lastly, a scratchy noise escaped it, and then another, and then more, the volume rising out of what she didn't realize was frustration.

Then it clicked, and her jaw fell open. The creature was speaking words.

"Are you listening now?" It asked, its voice impossibly scratchy from disuse and heavy with an accent she didn't recognize, explaining why she couldn't recognize it as words earlier. Stunned, she just dumbly nodded her head, completely out of her element. It grunted, and then continued. "Good. I think."

"Who, who… what?" Good job Ladybug, very eloquent.

The mysterious creature seemed to think the same, and chuckled. It chuckled, the green eyed fish creature was laughing like a human, clearly she'd been mistaken earlier and was most definitely dead because this wasn't real. "Well, I think right now you could call me your savior."

That didn't help her whatsoever. It only added more questions, burning behind her tongue but refusing to come out intelligibly. She rambled a string of confused noises, unable to form a proper sentence or word, starting to sink underneath a blanket of suffocating emotions.

"Hey, hey, breathe. I know the air's thin down here, but you won't help yourself by panicking." It spoke again, its voice starting to smooth out as it got used to using it, but she was still too far gone. Her head ached, she'd been caught by her enemy, she'd drowned in the ocean, now she was dead and talking to a pair of floating cat eyes that smelled like fish, it was too much. As her breathing continued to increase, her thoughts spiraling farther and farther, she wasn't aware of the creature sighing in defeat and then moving closer until it was right in her space.

She jolted when a pair of arms wrapped around her, holding her close to a very human chest, her head cradled under a very human chin. The green eyes had vanished from her sight, leaving her only darkness and the physical sensation of being hugged. It still didn't add up, it made no sense, this was making even less sense now that it was touching her, why did the fish creature feel like a human, what even was happening-

"Oh for the love of, just stop thinking already." Its voice cut clean through her thoughts this time, stopping them in their tracks as she felt the words rumble in its throat. The arms tightened around her, grounding her along with the rhythmic rise and fall of the chest she was pulled against. Its skin was cold to the touch but radiated warmth from underneath, so similar and yet so different to her own. Her mind seemed to have stopped working, especially when she automatically wrapped her own arms around it in return and held on like she was going to drift away. "There you go."

After several long minutes, her breathing finally evened out, and the creature pulled away. Its green eyes came back into sight, staring down at her in the darkness. Its cat shaped pupils were wider, looking more human now, and its hands, hands!, hadn't left her shoulders.

"Better?"

She opened her mouth, and a crackly squeak came out. It was patient as it waited for her to try again, this time her own voice being the one to sound raw and scratchy. "Yeah."

"Good." The eyes looked down, trailing over her body and catching on where her bullet wound probably was. She felt pinned under its stare, almost like prey, and desperately tried to take its attention away from its scrutiny of her injured state.

"Um." It looked up. "What are you?"

Smooth, Ladybug.

It chuckled again, the eyes disappearing as it looked around. "Right, it's too dark in here for you. You probably can't see me, right?"

She nodded.

"That may be for the best." Okay, that wasn't a great answer. Now she was just picturing the very decidedly human shape she'd felt was some sort of illusion, and it was actually some spiky deep sea creature with huge teeth- "No, no, I know what you're thinking, stop. I'm just saying seeing a so-called 'mythical' creature as soon as you woke up might've broken you."

"A who what now."

"Exactly, see, you can't even speak properly just from the mention of it." Even though she was on the road to freaking out again, unable to absorb literally any of this day at this point, she could see the eyes narrow ever so slightly and almost thought they looked amused. After a moment, it became clear the creature had no intention of answering.

Maybe she should switch tactics. Jumping to the next best question, she spoke up again. "What's your name?" At least if it had a name, she could stop referring to it as 'it', and stop picturing a man eating fish. But no sooner had the question escaped her mouth did the friendly amusement drain from its demeanor, resurrecting the previous tension from before it had hugged her. Its hands fell from her shoulders now, the creature pulling away to a more comfortable, though tense, distance.

"Names hold a lot of power under the ocean." It said, an ominous edge to its tone. It clearly had no intention of telling her its name, either, as it lapsed into silence for a long moment. But eventually, "But I know humans like to be able to refer to others as something personal. Er… Call me.. Chat Noir, I guess."

Well, that was a weird name. But if he was coming up with an alias, it made sense, and at least it gave her something normal-ish to latch onto. Two could play his game, though. If he wouldn't tell her his name, he didn't need to know hers, no more than the man who'd tried to kill her did.

"I'm Ladybug."

The warmth returned to his gaze, already feeling more human now that she knew what to call him. Understanding flickered in his eyes as well, and she was sure he'd figured out instantly that she hadn't told her real name, either. "Ladybug." He tested, and if she could see him, she'd have seen him smile. "I like it. Sounds familiar, though."

She didn't offer an explanation. Even if he seemed friendly, she didn't know how friendly he'd be if she let it slip she was a pirate, and she was still trapped in a cave with him, not to mention injured. "So, uh, where are we?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Underwater." Chat deadpanned. She groaned. "No, really. This is an air pocket cave in the wall of my ravine. I, uh, couldn't think of where else to take you."

Ladybug blinked. "Right, wait, you did mention you saved me. What happened?"

"You fell into my ravine and drowned. I dragged you in here. The End."

Not the answer she was looking for, but close enough. If he didn't want to say any more, she wasn't about to force the issue, not when she still didn't know his intentions. Or if he had a temper. "Why?"

That made him pause even more. He looked away. "I don't know. Look, just accept that you're alive and cheated death big time, you'd probably be better off not poking at the specifics considering the odds."

Was that a threat? She couldn't tell. Either way, she took the hint, and dropped that too. Ever the brave, or maybe foolish, though, she didn't entirely stop poking the proverbial bear.

"What are you going to do with me?"

"I don't know." That answer was instantaneous, truthful. "You're awake now, so I guess you can decide where to go. But there's one downside."

"And what would that be?"

"We're nearly at the bottom of the ravine. There's no other air pockets I can take you to, and you'll drown before we reach the surface."

"So I'm trapped here."

"Until we think of something? Maybe kinda."

Something didn't feel right, though. "Wait, if I'd drown on the way to the surface, how'd I get here without dying in the first place?"

Chat looked away again, not meeting her gaze. "You almost did." He mumbled, something odd in his tone that she couldn't place. A moment passed between them in silence, his glowing eyes still directed elsewhere, his mind in another place. The moment grew, the silence stretching on until she was sure he wasn't going to break it, but then his eyes snapped back to her with renewed focus, shaking off the weird air he'd had before. "Look, let's just focus on right now. I'd kind of prefer to not have to lug your dead body out of here, so can I please just do something about your wounds?"

That sentence at least told her two things, as ominous as it was. One, he didn't plan to kill her, in fact he'd prefer she not die even if he didn't seem particularly emotionally invested in her wellbeing, and he was willing to help at least. She still didn't exactly trust him, especially with the layer of mystery he was purposefully staying shrouded in, but she really didn't have much choice but to go along with whatever he decided at this point. He could be lying about how far up the surface was, but somehow she could feel the distance and knew it was true. The air felt thin, while at the same time there was a pounding pressure in her head that she couldn't entirely attribute to her near death experience.

Chat was still waiting for an answer, albeit patiently, while her brain rattled with thoughts. She'd started to forget about it throughout their conversation, but her head was still aching and filled with fog, and it seemed almost worse than before. Trying to ignore it, she focused on the current moment, and nodded. Almost instantly, his eyes disappeared as he turned around, and she could hear that echoing sound of movement again. It was strange, the way it sounded like he dragged his body around, and she looked toward the ceiling, wondering if it was just too low to stand and walk. She was still trying to convince herself he was actually human, but it wasn't panning out.

His glowing eyes were her warning for when he returned, appearing again from the darkness beside her. Still, Ladybug flinched slightly, unaware that he did too. "I, uh, it's a bit different to treat injuries underwater than it is for your people, I'm sure. And I haven't taken care of someone else since… for a long time." Chat sounded more unsure at this point, more skittish than he had at first. Her head spinning, though, Ladybug barely noticed his demeanor. All of her focus was on trying to understand his words and act like she wasn't slowly spiraling back into a hazy state.

"Yeah, it's good, go for it?" She tried. She wasn't able to see the way he raised an eyebrow inquisitively at her odd sentence, but he tentatively shuffled back into her personal space all the same. Shaking her head and forcefully dragging herself back into a more attentive state, she looked toward him, even though she couldn't see what he was doing.

"I can clean it, and put something on it to help it heal, but I need to see it better first." His tone shifted back into something low, almost soothing, almost as if he were dealing with a cornered wild animal. Slowly, and almost extremely cautiously, he leaned further into her space and she felt his hands on her shoulders again. When she didn't protest, he pushed her coat down onto her arms, exposing the bullet hole well and fully to the air. Tsking, he looked back and forth from different angles, leaving her to watch his eyes flitting around in the darkness. "You're lucky, it went all the way through, and missed anything important on the way. Yeah, it'll have to heal from both sides now, but that's better than if I'd have had to dig the bullet out."

Taking a deep breath, she had to agree. She'd gone through that before and repeating it today with this headache didn't sound like fun. "Have you had to do it before?" She asked without thinking, and it didn't escape her notice that his touch went rigid.

"...Yeah."

He worked in silence after that, though he was as gentle as possible and the longer the ordeal stretched on, the more she found herself appreciating it. Though after awhile she started warring with herself in her own head, torn between being glad to be in the company of someone who at least seemed to be a gentle soul, and being suspicious of his every move. Things still didn't sit quite right with her, and if she was at all honest, she was still pretty sure this was either a dream or the afterlife.

Because, after all, they were deep within the ocean and he talked about himself like he wasn't human, which fit along with the way he smelled like fish and had glowing cat eyes, but that was impossible. The only things under the ocean were actual fish, not mythical fish people that could see in the dark, those were just fairy tales. Plus, no one survived ending up in this ravine, they were drowned and torn apart by probably sharks or something, not magically saved by magical people.

"You're shivering."

Was she? She hadn't noticed. She just shrugged, wincing when it pulled on her wound, and took another deep breath. In the darkness, she noticed his eyes catch on the movement of her breathing, and narrow.

"We need to think of something. The air in here is running out."

Ladybug breathed in again, heavily, and realized he was right. It was freezing, this far below the surface, and her breathing had steadily gotten more labored as the air within the cave ran out. If it hadn't been so dark, she'd have noticed the edges of her vision flickering. He was nearly done with her wound, now slathering some kind of sticky plant substance on it, but that wouldn't do her any good if she froze or suffocated. A tense minute passed, the remaining air practically crackling with his anxiety as she slowly drifted, until finally he was done.

Any previous inhibitions gone, he firmly grabbed her coat and put it back in place, wrapping her snugly in it. "I'm going to look for any more air pockets further up the ravine wall. Stay here, don't move if you can help it and don't freak out again, okay?"

She nodded, though it could be debated whether she actually heard a word he said or not. By the time he'd splashed into the pool and disappeared, she was out.


	3. To the Surface

The vast rock wall of the ravine rose up before him, lit up in his vision only and making the small divots and darker sections easier to find. Speeding through the water with purpose, he flitted from one dark spot to the next, again and again, investigating each one briefly with his hands before moving on. So far, none of them gave way to underwater caves, at least not that he had found so far.

A sense of urgency was nagging at the back of his head, even if he didn't really know why. Or if he did, and didn't want to admit it. For now, he was still trying to convince himself that he was just 'doing the right thing' like he'd heard humans preaching before, and that he definitely would be this anxious to save any other human, and it wasn't just her, and there definitely wasn't anything else to it.

She just didn't deserve the end fate had tried to deal her. That was all. Drowning in the dark, chained and unable to move, that was just cruel even by his standards. He couldn't let her suffer that. It definitely wasn't just because of the way she made his heart twist when he looked at her, melancholy and nostalgia making it feel heavy when he met blue eyes.

 _No._ Chat shook his head, clearing it, and took off faster again. He wasn't going to think about this. He wasn't going to let himself see things that weren't there.

But the rock was still airless and unforgiving, and he paused eventually, out of breath and wanting to scream. If there was no where else to take her, he'd have to think of something else, and fast. He twisted in the water, looking around, up and down both sides of the ravine as if the answers were just hidden somewhere in plain sight and if he looked hard enough, he'd find it. But he knew that was hoping for too much, he knew these walls like the back of his hand and he knew there weren't any other caves than the one she was already in.

Why did creatures of the land have to be so fragile? Just being in his home was a death sentence. Which, normally, that was fine, if the numerous shipwrecks lining every inch of the floor of the ravine were anything to go by.

But while that was helpful before, it bothered him now. He didn't want her to die. Whether he was sure of why yet or not, he knew it felt wrong. If there was one thing he knew to never question, it was if something felt right or wrong, to do something about it. If she was being treated the same way his kind were, then maybe they had a common enemy.

Even if she turned on him as soon as she had the upper hand, at least he tried for once.

He was tired of being alone, anyway.

At least that's what he told himself to quell the anxiety that started to rise when he pictured if she would attack him when her strength was back, _if_ he managed to think of something already to save her. Slapping his own cheeks, he wrenched his mind back to the present, and dove straight down.

The air cave was on the floor of the ravine, tucked behind the rotting wood of a larger ship. There was just enough room to squeeze through a busted section of boards, and then the rock wall opened up into a little tunnel. It turned upwards, and soon he was breaching the surface back into the suffocating bubble of a hideaway.

Blinking the water from his eyes, Chat looked around, and was quick to find her. She was curled into a ball in the corner, where he'd last left her, as far from the water as possible. Whether she was awake or not, he couldn't tell, but her form was trembling even within her big coat. Although to be fair, she had gotten entirely drenched, and her body wasn't designed to ignore the chill of residual water like his was. If anything, having the wet fabric stuck to her skin was probably making it worse.

But she'd die a lot faster from lack of oxygen than she would from hypothermia, so for now, he brushed it aside. Heaving his body onto the stone, he dragged himself over to her, stopping just close enough to touch her but far enough away to pull out of reach in an instant.

Hesitating, his hand met her shoulder. When she didn't react, he shook her gently, and then less gently. Finally she stirred, blinking open unfocused blue eyes and looking up at him without recognition.

No, she wouldn't have that anyway, she didn't know him.

"Come on, wake up." Chat urged, his grip on her shoulder tightening. She made no move to sit up, still just watching him with a blank stare. Her chest was rising and falling with fast, shallow breaths, further confirming that he needed to move fast if he wanted her to live.

But why did he _really_ want her to live?

He ignored the thought, again.

"Up, let's go." He shoved his worries into the back of his mind, trying not to flinch as he firmly snaked his hands under her body and pulled. Ladybug was forced to sit up, though supported entirely by him, before going floppy against his chest. The hair on the back of his neck stood up at the contact, but he ignored it, too. She mumbled something incoherent, and he pulled her fully into his arms, trying not to sway as it made his body top-heavy outside of the water.

Pulling her away just enough to see her face, and her glazed eyes sluggishly watching the blackness of the ceiling, he tried again. "Ladybug, hey, look at me." He didn't think she was quite in the shape to be listening, or to register anything he said at all, but it was still worth trying. And much to his surprise, she looked to catch his gaze in the darkness, though still looking like she wasn't there at all.

"I need you to listen very closely, okay?" He was still sure she wasn't aware of any of this, or at the very least wouldn't remember when she woke up, but Chat had to try. "We're gonna go in the water. You need to take a deep breath, as big as you can, and then if you start to get dizzy once we leave you have to tell me okay?"

She started squinting at him while he spoke, and then her head made an odd limp movement after he was done. Trying to be optimistic, he decided to take that as, she was listening and had tried to nod, not that she was just completely loopy from… literally everything she'd endured today.

Okay, maybe land creatures weren't so fragile after all. He had to admit, he didn't think he'd survive being shot, chained up and then attempted to be executed only to end up freezing and barely able to breathe. Was it all humans who were so durable or was it just Ladybug?

With her hopefully understanding and on board, he turned toward the water pool entrance and made sure he had a good hold on her. "Okay, take that breath now and then hold it." He instructed, and she did as told, though the breath she took wasn't as deep as he'd have liked, it couldn't be helped. The next instant they broke through the water, and he could feel a tremor go through her body.

He flitted down and out of the cave in quick, sharp movements, and once out in the open ravine he bolted straight upward.

This was a terrible idea and he knew it, but there was nothing else he could do. He'd told her himself that she wouldn't be able to reach the surface before drowning, and even as fast as he was, he knew that was true. But for now at least he could figure the rest out once she let him know she was running out of air, at least as long as she was clear headed enough to do so.

The rock walls were speeding by as he pushed harder, eyes set firmly on the distant shine of the sun on the surface. It was closer than at the bottom, but it was still so horribly, dreadfully far away, and he could feel the time passing like a clock ticking under his skin, counting down the moments until he'd lose her without being able to save her.

Why was he _actually_ so determined?

A weak tap on his shoulder was his warning, and his head snapped down to look at her, though he didn't stop swimming upwards with all his strength. Her expression was somewhat more focused now, as if holding her breath had forced her to come more into reality, but she was looking like she was starting to lose it from holding it too long. She was tense, her face drawn tight, and Chat knew it was only moments before her body would cry out for air and all it would get instead is water.

So he did the only thing he could think of, though acting more on instinct than on any coherent thought or idea. Before he could even realize what he was doing, he breathed in as deeply through his gills as he could, and shifted his grip on her so he could take hold of her face.

Then he kissed her.

 _She wove through the water like a tapestry made purely of beauty, her every movement the embodiment of grace. Her midnight hair flowed behind her, floating into the water above her, its shape made fluid by the ocean. Her skin pale and almost glowing in the light, soft and alluring without effort. Warm pink covered her tail, her scales sparkling and glittering like jewels with every single movement, the sun rays shining through the surface catching on her every curve. Her fins flowed like her hair, paper thin and soft as silk, glowing white tinged with pink._

 _She dove under the coral, drifting between the flora as pink as she, her movements effortless and almost as if she was floating. With just a single flick of her tail, she could sail along through the water without moving at all, only curving smoothly and flowing wherever the water wanted her to go. She was perfection made whole, she was the greatest treasure the sea could hold._

 _She rose up from within the reef, her colors so much more radiant than all of the natural beauty surrounding her. Brighter and more vibrant than anything else in this world, her blue eyes sparkled like her scales, shining with pure life. They were the color of the sea on a day as bright as she, their beauty unmatched even by the boundless horizon. She was the picture of happiness, painted in an instant onto the backdrop of ocean._

Chat didn't realize he'd stopped swimming, but he shoved everything his heart was screaming at him deep into a corner and ignored it, and pressed harder against Ladybug. She was frozen, probably shocked and confused and maybe afraid, and he was really starting to hope she wouldn't remember any of this after all. But he still had a goal to accomplish, and he'd be damned if he was going to let her die in his arms, so with a silent prayer that she'd forgive him for this later, he forced open her mouth and breathed out.

Instantly, she caught on, and relaxed. He could practically _feel_ the tension drain as her previously imminent death, or at least sequential drowning, drifted away. As soon as her need for air was satisfied, though, he wrenched away, breaking the contact and leaving her to stare wide eyed at him. Wide, blue eyes, blue as the surface, and he turned away and dashed upward with even more force than before.

In the moment, it almost felt like he was running away from everything.

In what felt like only a few seconds, but was actually a decent amount of time longer, Chat finally breached the surface. It was a stretch, but he made it in time before Ladybug ran out of air again, and the instant her head was above water again she was gasping, choking and gulping in huge breaths of air. All the while, as the weakened girl recovered, Chat silently held her afloat, his mind elsewhere. Above, the sky was dark, the light he'd seen before on the surface actually the reflection of the moon shining down on them.

When her breathing finally evened to something more natural and less desperate, she collapsed into him, her face resting against his neck. He jolted from the touch, fear spiking through his body, but he did his best to ignore it. She didn't seem to notice his reaction, slipping away back into sleep and going lax in his grip. He sighed.

"Guess it's time to find somewhere above water for you, huh?" He knew she wasn't listening, and only the sounds of the open ocean all around were his reply.


	4. Into Sight

Ladybug decided she was well and truly sick of waking up in unknown places.

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the wide, open expanse of cloudless blue skies. Under her body, she could feel soft sand, gentle on the fading soreness she still felt, and nearby, a fire crackled. She turned her head slowly, blinking at the burning wood gathered on the beach beside her, and further still, her coat was hung on sticks stabbed into the sand, allowing it to dry.

She sat up.

All around, the sand was disturbed into long, smooth channels. It was like the tracks left behind by snakes or eels, but much larger. Otherwise, however, there were no footprints, and not a soul in sight. Ladybug was alone.

Looking down, she turned her hands over, stretching her fingers. They felt stiff from being cold for too long, but mostly, she felt fine. Her headache was gone, and the pain in her chest was down to a dull ache. If she craned her neck, she could see the wound, healing nicely and sealed from the air by a translucent green paste. The way it dried in place, it didn't even need to be bandaged.

The presence of the unfamiliar medicine was the only reminder that any of her previous experience was real. If not for that, the pirate might have been able to convince herself it had all been a dream. If not for the bullet wound, she might have been able to convince herself that her failed execution hadn't happened at all, that she'd simply gotten too drunk and woken up now on a beach she didn't know.

But it was there, it had happened, and she couldn't pass it off as something she'd simply dreamed up. Though the entire past day was hazy, her memory patchy and feverish at best, she could still feel the chill of the ocean and the glow of green eyes in the darkness. With her wits about her, now, all of the details were starting to fall into place, as unbelievable as they may be. The way Chat had joked about his appearance, to clinging to the dark like it was the only thing protecting him, to the fish smell and without a doubt the fact that he had to be able to breathe underwater. The way he referred to the ravine, the Cataclysm, as _his_ , and the marks in the sand all around her. She couldn't have ended up here, on this beach, if he hadn't brought her here.

Ladybug wasn't a superstitious person. She didn't believe any of the fairy tales, any of the legends and myths and local lore that pervaded the seaside towns she visited. She'd never seen or met anything the folk tales spoke of, never experienced bad luck or magic, and she'd always said she'd only believe something was real if she saw it for herself, which she never would, because it didn't exist.

At least, that's how she had thought before. She… might have to rethink a few things. Though she wasn't ready to admit fully to herself what her mind was trying to conclude already, just the theory was enough to make her question her own sanity.

For now, though, she could push the thoughts away and figure it out later. Standing up, she was surprised by how sturdy her legs were beneath her, after everything she'd been through. But with how the sun was high in the sky, and how the fire had mostly died down to embers from what had no doubt been a roaring blaze a few hours ago, she must've been out for quite awhile, and the rest had clearly done her well.

Out toward the ocean, the waves were gentle and calm, sparkling in reflection of the midday sun. in the opposite direction, the beach gave way to grass and foliage, and the beach rose into cliffs on either side, jutting out over the water and obscuring the beach from most directions. Though she couldn't see to the other side of the greenery, the pirate didn't expect much to be there, leaving the little island as more of a puny islet. All the same, it was a place she didn't recognize, and it was hidden well. Even if there were legion ships patrolling the waters, they probably wouldn't expect to find anything here, and it may very well be outside of their boundary anyway.

The question remained, however, about what she should do next.

Fantastical beasts or not, near death experience or not, she was technically stranded here. She couldn't be sure whether Chat would come back and help her or not, especially considering he'd already done far more than she could have asked of him, and her crew had probably heard by now that she was most likely dead. On the bright side, nobody would be looking for her, but on the downside, nobody would be looking for her.

She didn't much like the idea of being stranded on an island alone and drawing faces on coconuts to stay sane.

Hiking up the beach was difficult in the soft sand, but soon, she made it up to the treeline and disappeared behind the thick brush. Just like she'd expected, the patch of foliage was small, and she could see right through it now to a rocky shore opposite of the sandy one she'd woken up on. Turning, she trekked through the thick plant life, coming out of it on top of one of the rocky cliffs she'd seen overhanging the ocean.

From up here, Ladybug could see most of the horizon, and looking around only made it more clear how far away from anything she was. There were no ships, no islands, only water for as far as the eye could see. She couldn't even see the dark patch of the Cataclysm, leaving her to wonder just how far Chat had taken her.

As much as she didn't like being a damsel in distress, she wasn't leaving here unless someone else helped her.

Climbing down was faster than climbing up had been, and soon, she was jumping back down into the sand. Returning to where she'd woken up, and now no longer having the excuse of exploring to quiet her thoughts, Ladybug was left blankly staring at the now long dead fire. What was she going to do now? For as long as she'd been a pirate, her entire adult life and beyond, she'd never been without her crew, or her weapons, or her ship. Now, though she had survived the impossible, she had none of those things. It made her feel small, suddenly more unsure of herself than she'd been in a very, very long time.

She could only sit, resting her head on her knees, and let her mind trail off into uncertainty.

* * *

It wasn't until the sun was starting to set, casting long, bleeding rays of orange across the painted water, that she was shaken back to reality. It wasn't anything big that drew her from her drawn out internal debate, not any change in noise or anything particularly noticeable around her. No, it was just the smallest change in motion in the gently sweeping waves, just the slightest splash heard above the sound of the sea. For just the briefest of seconds, something black appeared above the surface, disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Normally, Ladybug would have tensed and been ready to fight the instant anything in her surroundings changed, even with her notoriously good luck. Anything could turn on her at any moment, anyone out for a bounty on a pirate's head, and the sea itself was an unforgiving and cruel mistress, teaching all of her travelers well and good that they'd best not underestimate her creations. But after the experience Ladybug has had, she finds herself unbothered by the presence in the water, an inquisitive curiosity taking over where normally apprehension would have been.

Rising to her feet, she approached the water, bringing herself to an edge of rock overhanging a deep pool. When she peers down into it, at first, nothing happens. But soon, two points of glowing green appear, rising from the depths. At the center, slitted cat pupils come into focus, so inhuman and yet all too familiar already.

She could be afraid. Things are different now, with her being steady on her own feet and not collapsed at death's door, so she can't be sure what his intentions are still. But she's had enough time to think, to stitch together as many fragmented memories as she can recall, and nowhere in her right mind can she find reason to distrust Chat after the lengths he'd gone to to save her, when he'd had no obligation whatsoever to do so.

Besides, as he rises ever so slowly toward the surface, eyes wide and every movement wary, she can't help but think that maybe he's more afraid of her than she should be of him.

Though she is on the opposite side of fear right now, she does find an odd sense of weighted interest taking form within her. She's never met him outside of the pitch dark, outside of a hazy fever. She could have hallucinated the things she knows about him, and she still doesn't know what he looks like, whether he's really got a human shape like she thought she'd felt, or if he's a terrifying beast of the deep.

It doesn't cross her mind that maybe he's both.

He stops long before the surface, before the light can catch on his face and illuminate it. He's hiding beneath the dark of the water, clinging to the shadows and hesitating to show himself, just like she'd guessed. Before the rational side of her mind can catch up, she's reaching out, dipping a hand into the water. It rises up her wrist, her elbow, all the way up until her entire arm is submerged and her face is just inches above the surface, her other hand braced on the rock for balance. She can still see him, blinking up at her, otherwise seemingly unmoving.

A hand takes hold of hers, tentatively.

This is the moment where her sense of self preservation comes slamming back out of the abyss, and for one terrifying moment that makes her heart lurch into her throat, she's convinced now is the moment he'll turn, and yank her off of her precarious stance and finish the job Hawkmoth started.

His grip tightens, and she feels like her heart stops, waiting for the plunge into icy water. But instead of her going down, he comes up, his features slowly coming into focus. He only stops once he's face to face with her, a mirror image on the opposite side of the surface as she.

And suddenly, Ladybug starts to question everything.

Because he's _beautiful._

She knows she's staring, and he lets her, his hand clasped tightly with hers and she's too distracted to notice his fingers are trembling. She knows his eyes, but they're completely different when framed by his pale and objectively perfect face. His skin is flawless, and a mess of wild golden hair floats weightlessly above and around his features, framing him in a softness that compliments his sharp jaw all too well. Aside from the eyes, he was just as human as she'd pictured.

Gently, without pulling, she tugs on his hand. He startles, breaking out of his own seemingly entranced state much like her own, and follows her beckoning without much hesitation. Soon his face breaks through the surface, his hair somehow staying impossibly dry and fluffy even as it leaves the water, and she doesn't have time to wonder about it because he's still pulling himself up and his face is followed by his beautifully sculpted _bare_ chest and _oh dear lord someone help her._

He stops with his waist at the surface, and she's too busy thanking the higher powers for having pity upon her to question why. Meanwhile, he is completely oblivious to the absolutely _not_ innocent thoughts going through her head, and is staring silently at her with an expression that takes her far too long to recognize as concern. No, wait, not concern, not like worry for her, he looks _scared._

That's enough to _mostly_ snap her out of… whatever her brain is doing. "Chat?" She asks, gently, her voice barely audible over the waves. He relaxes, ever so slightly, his muscles still taught with anxiety and _no Ladybug his eyes are up there._

"Uuuuh. Hi?" He tries to offer a friendly grin, tries to act confident, but it just comes off as an awkward grimace, and all she notices in the process are the two pointed fangs he has. He seems to figure that out, and is just as quick to let the expression fall.

There's a long, long pause. Neither of them know what to say, and Ladybug is slowly managing to get her mind out of the gutter. While she does so, he seems to realize their hands are still clasped together, and startles backward and out of her grip. Ladybug is almost just as startled, now fully realizing just how much he looks a bit like a cornered animal and her thought from earlier about him being afraid comes back full force. It's enough to get her mouth moving, her tone filled with concern as her face pulls into a frown. "Chat, are you… scared of me?"

He blinks. Once, twice, several times in the span of a single second, and then he sighs. Some of the tension seems to drain out of his shoulders as he does so, making him look so much smaller as he closes in on himself. "I guess you could say that. Humans are dangerous, it's better to just... not ever be seen, or anything."

It makes sense, she thinks, and the tiny voice in the back of her head is screaming about that conclusion she's still not quite ready to think about yet. "Well, you're not wrong there. Guess I learned that one the hard way." Maybe she's trying to be relatable, maybe she's just being honest, but either way, it seems to work. His eyes had gone downcast, but now, he looks back up at her through his eyelashes and she has to stomp down the fluttering in her heart.

"Yeah, I suppose you did."

They lapse back into silence again, but it's a smidge more comfortable this time. Chat looks like he's starting to realize she's not going to try to murder him, although Ladybug is feeling extremely conflicted and more than a little confused at this point. She only remembers maybe half of her fuzzy memories involving him, and too many things are adding up and yet not enough at the same time, and also there are way too many butterflies appearing in her stomach already, and it's just a big tangled mess. She kind of wishes she could just feel afraid instead, all of these other emotions are a lot all at once. Finally, the silence has lasted for too long, and Ladybug needs answers.

"You're… really pretty."

Dammit that was the wrong thought.

Once again, Chat is startled, although at least this time his cheeks go a bright pink. He glances away, decidedly _not_ looking at her, and mumbles under his breath, "You wouldn't say that if you saw the rest of me."

Maybe he hadn't meant for her to hear that. Maybe she doesn't really care.

She's curious, she wants answers, and her filter or maybe just the rational side of her brain entirely is apparently dead at this point, so it's without hesitation that she says, "Then show me and prove it."

Ever so slowly, he looks back at her. She thinks he must be startled again, but his expression has gone blank, his eyes betraying nothing. That's how he stays for several long seconds, and she's almost tempted to take it back and apologize when he finally says "...Okay."

His voice was just as blank as the rest of him, but he couldn't hide the slight tremor in it. Before either of them can back out, he faces another side of the pool, and with a powerful heave he's pulled the rest of his previously hidden body out of the water in one smooth movement.

And, in the process, confirming the suspicions Ladybug hadn't been letting herself consider.

His torso is completely human, just like she already knew, but that was where the normalcy ended. Right at the line of his hips, his pale skin changed to black scales, traveling all the way down the length of the huge tail he had instead of legs. At the end, it flared out into a wide double fin, green in color that faded nearly to yellow at the edges, and on his sides and back he had short matching fins as well. They were thick and sturdy looking, almost like a dolphin or a shark. Lastly, in a cluster on his lower back and trailing down his tail a ways, he had black and yellow spines that looked more than a little dangerous. While she took in his appearance, Chat twisted uncomfortably on the rocky beach, his tail gathered under him and one eye on the pool of water. The tension in the air was palpable, and soon, Ladybug got over her awe and noticed it. She looked back up at his face. She hadn't noticed before in her attracted gawking, but there were two more black fins on top of his head, almost resembling cat ears.

"I still think you're pretty."

Looking more than a little shocked, and going red in the face again, Chat deflated and relaxed ever so slightly. He tilted his head, giving her a thoughtful look. "No offense, but you're kind of odd."

"Says the guy who's half fish." she quipped right back, unbothered by his lack of tact. At the half sarcastic, half joking tone of voice she used, though, the rest of his trepidation seemed to be broken. He cracked a wide, genuine grin this time, directed only at her. Pointed fangs and all, the corners of his mouth turned up and his cheeks squished into his eyes and suddenly Ladybug felt like she was staring at the sun itself.


	5. Fireside

**A/N:** **I freakin hate ffn's buggy coding sometimes**

* * *

Not even an hour later found them both by the fire, renewed to a warm blaze in the dark. The sun had vanished below the horizon, leaving only the moon to light the sky as it rose higher above. The sand was comfortable under Ladybug as she lounged back, crossing her arms behind her head and watching Chat out of the corner of her eye. He was lying on his side on the opposite side of the fire from her, the orange glow casting an odd color on his glowing green eyes from where they cut through the dark, watching her as well.

With the fire creating a comfortable barrier between them, and the pool into the water only a few feet away from him, Chat seemed far more comfortable. It was odd, to think that the strange beast from the bottom of the ocean would be so skittish, especially whereas she was not particularly bothered. Perhaps it was the way he'd yet to act even remotely threatening, or that she didn't have much of a choice here anyway, or maybe it was the fact he was far too attractive for his own good. But on the opposite end, she couldn't quite place her finger on why he'd be so afraid of her. Humans in general being unpredictable did make sense, but not to explain just how deep his fear extended. She almost wondered if she'd threatened him while in her fever state, but if she had, he probably wouldn't have saved her. It had to be something else, but what exactly, she did not know.

Ladybug was the first to break the silence. Her curiosity was burning with all sorts of questions, but she really didn't want to make Chat close back off again, and it felt safer to start off easy. "So… you're a mermaid..?"

Maybe too easy. It made Chat chuckle, though, a smile crossing his face. "Yes, I suppose that's what humans call us."

"What do you call yourself?"

He pulled a face, thinking. "My kind doesn't really make a habit of coming up with words for everything if we didn't have a need for it. We knew what we were, so we didn't need a word to describe ourselves."

"So if you were to have to explain to someone what you were, would you use the word 'mermaid', since you don't have a word of your own?"

Chat's voice lowered a pitch, humming to himself before answering. "I'm not sure. I… think I'd just say that I'm me."

Ladybug couldn't argue with that. In fact, she was almost jealous. For someone still so mystical to her, Chat was extremely secure in his own self identity. She could think of a few people that could benefit from his perspective, probably including herself.

"You know, though," He started talking again, unprompted, and the pirate found herself turning toward him, interested in whatever information he was willingly choosing to offer. "I don't remember who said it at this point, but I remember someone called us the 'children of the sea', once. I liked that one."

"I've never heard that." She really hadn't. In all the fairy tales she'd heard, though she hadn't paid them much mind, it didn't sound like a familiar phrase.

His expression dropped ever so slightly, grounding back to reality. "Yeah, it was a long time ago. Somewhere between then and now, things changed."

"What happened?"

Chat tilted his head, debating on how to tell what he was thinking of. Finally, he seemed to settle on saying, "At first, a long, long time ago, early humans didn't dare come near us. They didn't have anything against us, but they seemed to just want to avoid possible conflict, maybe out of fear. After that, there was a short period of curiosity from both sides, and an equally short alliance. They say it was a golden age of the bond between the land and the sea, when ocean storms calmed and the water was gentle to its guests, and some humans believed that by being friendly to us, they had calmed the great mother we had come from."

"The sea." Ladybug breathed, hanging on every word of his story.

He nodded. Then he looked out over the horizon, gaze darkening. "But it would never last, or so the ancient tales go. We are too alike as species, and as it turned out, we both share the ability to hold lifelong grudges. Whatever friendship had once existed did crumble, and turn to war."

Ladybug scoffed. "Yeah, that sounds about right." Chat looked over at her.

"Humans fight each other all the time, right?" Then he added "Well, I guess someone throwing you into my ravine was answer enough for that."

She wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended, so instead, she just shook her head. He continued right after, anyway.

"Actually, I'm curious. What was that about? Did you say something offensive to some snooty princess somewhere?"

Ladybug couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter at that, though she didn't miss the way he flinched at the noise. "No, no. It was this… guy. A real piece of work, if you ask me. He hates my guts."

Chat rested his head on his hand, interest shining in his eyes. "And here I was hoping you'd say he was a creepy ex boyfriend that you could throw into the ocean in revenge. I wouldn't be as nice to him."

"Ew, no, ugh god no Chat he's like, ancient. And an asshole." She was cringing at the implication, and Chat just grinned. "And he looks like a wrinkly grape with a toupe."

Now Chat was the one to bust out into laughter, his tail wapping the ground once or twice while he covered his face and shook. When he caught hold of himself, Chat leaned back into the sand, wheezing. "I don't even know what those things are, but the way you said them was perfect." He chuckled some more about it, and Ladybug couldn't help smiling back at him.

"So why wouldn't you be as nice to him?" She asked, curious, once Chat was breathing normally again. He looked back at her.

"Hmm… He doesn't sound like a very good person. I mean, I don't know the whole story, or his side. But even so, I don't think it's okay to leave someone defenseless from fighting for their own survival. Whether he had good reason or not, what he did was cheap."

Again, Chat was surprising her with his thoughtful perspective. Before she could debate on it, though, he was turning back toward her with a glint in his eyes.

"Although, I'm still curious. What did you do to incur his wrath?"

Ladybug froze. "Uuuuh."

"Yeah, that's about what I expected." Chat said, but that was it. He didn't push any further, and his expression changed as he completely let it go without hesitation. "Hmm… It's probably inconsequential, but do you know the guy's name?"

"Are you gonna put a curse on him?" She asked, remembering what he'd said about names holding power. Although, she must've looked a little bit too eager, since Chat started giggling at her after he wiped the shocked expression off his face. She pouted, probably turning red. "Hey, I was just curious."

"I know, you just… looked so ready to have me magically make this guy like, I don't know, trip over his own feet every other step."

"...Can you do that?"

At that, Chat just shrugged, foregoing an answer. Knowing he wasn't going to say any more on the matter, Ladybug didn't push it, and after a moment, he backtracked. "But seriously, who is he?"

"No one knows his real name, actually." Ladybug admitted, scouring her brain for the knowledge, but relatively sure she'd never met anyone that knew it. "He makes everyone call him Hawkmoth."

She was still digging in her memory, trying to figure out if she'd ever even heard rumors of his name, but found nothing. When she turned back to look at Chat again, he was staring at her like she was a ghost, and he was as pale as one.

"Chat? Are you okay?"

He shuddered, eyes focusing. "I'm fine. Uh, that's quite the alias for him to choose. Was he inspired by the one from history?"

Confused, Ladybug could only give him a funny look. "What are you talking about? He's the first guy to call himself Hawkmoth that I've ever met. Was there another?"

Nodding, Chat took a deep breath. "A long time ago, there was another guy who went by that name, and… I don't know. I try to see the best in people, or at least I used to until this guy came along, and I'm sorry but there is no other way to describe that man than by saying he was evil."

"What did he do?" She had to ask, curiosity pulling at her, but she also couldn't help but notice how rigid Chat had gone. He was tense, his hands in fists, his eyes narrowed and looking at nothing.

"Around the time he appeared," He started, his tone sharp and low. "Humans had somehow come up with a legend that catching or killing a mermaid would grant them amazing things. Anything from our tails being indestructible material, to our dying breath giving immortality to the killer, to us being able to choose to revive the dead."

Ladybug stayed silent, almost afraid to interrupt his story with the dangerous energy Chat was radiating just from retelling it.

"This guy, the last Hawkmoth, heard about these legends and he wanted… something. I don't know what wish he wanted granted, but he wanted something, and he dedicated his life to tracking us down and hunting us." There, he stopped, and said not a word more.

"Did you… Chat, did you meet this guy?" He said it was a long time ago, but the way he was talking, Ladybug felt like it was personal.

"Yeah." That was all he said. She didn't push it further.

"Well." She said, tone a little bit lighter, and he glanced over at her from glaring at his hands. "You said it was a long time ago, right? So the guy's probably long dead?"

He blinked, slowly, as if he hadn't thought of that before. "I guess so. Er… How long do humans live?"

Ladybug thought about it for a second, latching onto the slight change in topic after his souring mood. "Most people I've met don't make it very far. A lot of the time, they either do something stupid and die, do something stupid and get killed, or get sick. I mean, just look at me, I should've died yesterday."

He was left blinking at her, seemingly absorbing that information, before she continued.

"But… Well, I've never been close to someone who made it to be much older than I am now. Everyone I know is most likely going to die in their twenties. I think the oldest person I've ever met was, I don't know, sixty?"

"Wait, wait." Chat furrowed his brows, staring at her. "Sixty what?"

"Years." She answered simply, rationalizing that he must not count in years. His jaw fell open, though, shock freezing his face.

"You people only make it to sixty if you're lucky?"

The pirate nodded. "Pretty much. It's really uncommon."

"Ladybug." He said, getting her attention and talking like he was about to reveal the most important information in the world. "That's… nothing. Ladybug, mermaids live well into the hundreds, I knew an oracle who was a thousand once."

Okay, that was pretty insane information. "Oh." She stared, a little bit floored.

"You…" He squinted, and tried again. "I'm just, I'm so sorry. You just have so little time, I can't imagine."

"That's okay." She just shrugged. "Personally, I accepted it a long time ago. Besides, if I look at yesterday as when I was supposed to die, anything at this point is just a bonus."

Chat nodded, slowly. "That's a… good way of looking at it, I guess."

They both lapsed into silence for a few minutes after that, registering the information they'd just learned. Soon, though, Chat broke it again.

"How much do you remember from your whole ordeal, by the way?" He was looking away from her as he asked, his face turning red, but she just raised an eyebrow at him and brushed it off.

"Uh, not a lot, I guess? It's all really fuzzy. I remember a lot of pain and being confused, it kinda blurs into just a big chunk of discomfort. I think at best I remember talking to you in that cave." She spoke slowly, picking at her memories, but nothing new presented itself, until a thought crossed her mind. "Hey, how did you get me out?"

He went rigid again, but by this point she was sort of getting used to him always being tense. "I just, uh. Had you hold your breath as best you could and just sort of… swam really fast."

"I thought you said we wouldn't make it without me drowning?"

"I was trying to be realistic. However, I learned that I am, uh, very fast in dire situations." Chat said, nodding his head firmly and not looking at her. "We made it up in time, to my surprise."

She raised an eyebrow. "And if we didn't you were just gonna be like 'oh welp, didn't make it, oh well, bye Ladybug'?"

"No, no!" He was flailing his arms, genuinely looking aghast at the jab, before looking ashamedly at the ground. "I just… had to try and do something, you know? Anything. If it went wrong I thought I could maybe, I don't know, nurse you back or something. Your odds weren't looking good no matter what I chose."

Ladybug's expression softened. He was right, and she was being unfair. He did everything he could and so much more than she could have asked, and she was still here to see another day because of him alone. "Well, I think I owe you my life, Chat. Thank you." That was apparently the last thing he expected, as his head shot up and he stared wide eyed at her, his cheeks going pink again.

"Really?!"

She laughed. "Of course. You didn't have to save me, but you did anyway. The least I can do is be grateful."

At that, his shocked expression turned warm, and he sent her a blinding grin. Those black fins on top of his head perked up, looking even more like cat ears, and his pointed fangs made his smile somehow that much more charming. He was absolutely precious, and oh no she was so doomed.

Shaking it off, Ladybug changed the subject, just trying to get her mind off his stupidly cute face and her hormones. "Speaking of, I've been really curious… why did you save me?"

Chat hummed, raising a hand to his mouth and staring intently at the sand, thinking hard. A few moments passed, but eventually, he looked back up at her with a somber expression. "I wasn't sure at first, either. I tried to rationalize it by telling myself the way you were being killed was just cruel and unfair, and I would have one it for anyone. But in all honesty, I think… I think you remind me of someone."

That wasn't quite what she was expecting, and she leaned in, interested. "Someone you knew? A mermaid?"

He nodded. He looked sad. "Yeah, you just, you're very similar. It was a long time ago, though."

"Well, I'm glad." She said, letting it go. He'd talk about it if he wanted to, if the amount they had already talked tonight meant anything.

After that, they both leaned back, watching the stars above. Ladybug wasn't sure how much time went by like that, neither feeling the need to say more. Though there was still more she didn't know about him, somehow, she knew she'd find out sooner or later. And until then, she was kind of starting to nod off, the crackling fire lulling her into sleep.

When she was just about out, Chat spoke up again, his voice low and murmuring in an attempt to not disturb her. It did bring her back up a teeny bit, though, just enough to listen to him.

"I'm glad I did it too. I've… enjoyed talking to you." He admitted, and in her sleepy state, Ladybug decided rationality needed to take a hike, so she rolled closer to the fire and reached past it to put a hand on Chat's arm.

The mermaid jolted at her touch, but he only turned to look at her, not flinching away. His eyes were wide, staring down at hers, as he waited for her to say something.

"I think you've been lonely for a long time, Chat. But I meant it when I said I owe you one, and if you want to be around me, I'm more than happy to be your friend."

Without thinking, she reached further and grasped his hand, threading their fingers together. He didn't protest, though he didn't seem like he could remember how to speak much right now at all. Normally she would have wanted to stay up and keep talking, and hear his reply, but she was tired and her eyes were burning under heavy lids, so she just went with it and snuggled into the sand instead.

Chat didn't mind, if him doing the same without ever letting go of her hand said anything.


	6. Fight or Flight

When Chat woke up, he was… strangely comfortable.

It took awhile to place at first. Yes, his scales were a little bit dry and that wasn't the most pleasant, but otherwise, he was warm. He was warm, and the ground under him was soft, and for once he wasn't waking up in cold water and screaming from the horrifying pictures in his mind. Soon though, it sunk in that this was completely different from normal, and he startled fully awake, eyes flying open.

The open sky above was starting to lighten, and for a moment he was completely lost about how he'd ended up out of the water. But looking around, and finding the remains of the fire beside him and the already familiar form of Ladybug curled up on the other side, it all made sense again, especially when his eyes trailed along her and coming to rest on where her fingers were still entwined with his. Instantly his heart swelled, at the same time that his face flushed red.

She'd offered her friendship to him in exchange for saving her life, and he hadn't expected anything like that at all. Maybe he was jaded, no, he definitely was, after everything. But he'd expected her to turn on him, to stab him in the back, maybe literally, once she found out what he was. For so long, humans had only wanted to take, and once they forgot about that, all they did was fear him and he knew all too well how fear made humans want to destroy.

But not her, she was just… she was _different._ She's not afraid of him in the least, it seems, and she doesn't appear to have dark intentions whatsoever. He's still having trouble wrapping his head around the entire idea, his subconscious still expecting to be turned on at any moment, but he can't help the warm, fond feeling of trust blooming in his heart.

Is it really only trust, though? She does look so achingly familiar. Her pale skin, and the freckles he's only just noticed dotted across her nose, and that specific shade of midnight that her hair proudly presents. The hand in his is small and delicate, and if he trudges into his memory, he's sworn he's held it before.

The dark mermaid knows it's impossible. But the thought pervades his head, twisting his emotions, and he can't help leaning down and pressing his forehead against hers. She's different, she's _not_ the same, and yet she's so uncannily _exactly_ the same. It's twisting his heart into knots with every minute that passes, making his memories blur with the present and he's starting to question what's real at all. He feels a tug toward her, wanting to touch her even with the primal fear that strikes through him at the slightest contact, and that urge gives him such incredible guilt.

He pretends, for a moment, that he doesn't know why it makes him feel guilty, but he does. She didn't sign up for any of this, she doesn't owe him anything, and even if they weren't so completely different, he didn't think she'd be interested in him anyway.

But also… why was he thinking like that? He shouldn't _want_ her to be interested, he shouldn't, and yet he kind of does, and he feels like he's betraying her because of it.

She's the same. And yet, she is not.

She is _not_ what was his.

Chat pulls away, he can't keep warring with himself like this. He gently pries his hand from her grip, and she grumbles in her sleep, pulling her hand to her chest and rolling over. It makes his heart _hurt_ , because he knows that exact movement, he's seen it a thousand times, it's so completely familiar and he has to tell himself again that it _is not the same._

He looks pointedly at her legs, committing their presence to memory, as if to use as proof in an argument against someone else. But there is no one but himself, and the familiarity refuses to leave even when faced with indisputable proof.

With a sigh, he sits up and turns toward the water. He doesn't know where he plans to go, and he knows the water won't take away the thoughts or the memories or the pain, but he knows that short term goals are the best method of dealing with the despair and his tail still needs to be hydrated, so that's what he's going to do.

And just maybe, he hopes, going for a swim will at least clear his mind enough to decide what he's going to do from here. He can't go back to his ravine, he can't go back to the way he was living, not after seeing the surface again. Something is going to have to change, in fact it already has, and he doesn't know whether that's a good thing or not.

The plunge into the chilly water is more refreshing than he expects, drawing a contented sigh out of him. For just a moment, the cascading and endless internal struggle ceases, replaced only by the cool and comfort of the ocean. But all too soon the thoughts trickle back in again, and he lets himself sink toward the depths unhindered as one, clear, striking realization hits him.

It's not that she _is_ or _isn't_ , it's not how similar she is, it's not how impossible the idea is. It's that he's only seeing what he _wants_ her to be. Ladybug is her own person, in her own time. She has her good and bad qualities, she has her own history, she looks the way she does and she is the race she is. She is the same and different and he's being blind to the differences because all he wants to see is the similarities. He's not seeing her for who she really is, and he knows nothing could be more unfair than to expect her to be someone she isn't.

He wants her to be _her_.

But she is not, and she never will be, no matter how much he wishes for it.

It's been so long. So many empty years passing in a fog, until everything blurred together and he thought he was over it. But Chat had only fooled himself into thinking that, and already, he is learning that a broken heart will never heal.

* * *

When Chat resurfaced again, he expected to see Ladybug alone on the beach, by their fire. Maybe still asleep, curled up in the sand, maybe awake and absently poking at the ashes. But that was not the scene he was witness to when he broke from the water. When his eyes did focus, he plunged back down out of sight, and all of his previous angst vanished in exchange for an angry burning feeling in his chest, alongside cold worry.

Ladybug was gone.

And the beach was swarming with legion soldiers.

His slit pupils followed each man's movement like a predator watching its prey, his fins pinning to his head and a silent hiss escaping his mouth. He shouldn't have left. He thought this place was safe, deserted and unwanted by the kingdoms around it, but that idea had been too naive. Why they would come here at all, he still didn't know, but right now that didn't matter. A voice in the back of his head was screaming for him to find her, find where she was, make sure she was safe. A more logical voice told him to leave now, to escape while he still could, cut his newly formed ties before they became losses.

If he had any sense of self preservation left, he would. It was the smarter choice, he knew. Ladybug was proof that humans had forgotten his race existed at all, if he left now and returned to the bottom of the ocean, to his cold little area he'd scared everyone away from, he'd be safe. He'd live to see another day, the targets on his back long faded away with time.

Chat drifted below the water, and looked back toward the direction of his ravine. His home, his safe place.

Was it really that, though? It's been decades. He'd grown so accustomed to the dull pain, the loneliness and endless days that all lead to nothing, he'd forgotten what anything different was like. He'd long forgotten the warmth of company, talking and joking with a friend, of not knowing what each day would bring but knowing he wouldn't face it alone, leaving the uncertainty as an adventure to be conquered.

Hiding away in his ravine wasn't really living. It wasn't a life, it was a sad excuse of an existence of the shell he was left behind as. It hurt to be the one left behind, to be the one still here, feeling both abandoned and guilty for surviving. But maybe, just maybe, he needed to make something of his existence again, since he was the one who still could.

Mind made up, and a new feeling of resolute determination coursing through him, Chat rose back up above the surface. He stayed low enough to stay hidden, and began to slowly creep along the rock until he was in the shade as well, but kept his head above water and listened closely. All of the soldiers on the beach were doing their own thing, investigating different areas, and some were chatting amongst themselves about things the mermaid did not care for. But a few minutes of patient listening did finally reward him with what he needed.

"That girl can't actually be her, can it? I mean, the Captain sent her overboard himself. We watched, she never came back up again, she's gotta be dead." Bingo. Chat's eyes narrowed, zeroing in on which conversation it was.

"I dunno man, who knows. Maybe he's just paranoid, you know the guy, he'd think the wind was after him if it blew too hard."

"Yeah, but it's pretty fair to be paranoid about her. She always pops up like a daisy exactly at the worst time, and every time we think she's dead, there she is again. It's like she's a curse."

Well, that was an interesting thing to say. Ladybug hadn't said much about, well, _anything_ from before they'd met, and Chat was starting to wonder the details. Yes, this Hawkmoth-wannabe had gone too far in what he did to her, but it was starting to sound like there may be a reason. Weren't these guys supposed to be the law? From how it sounded, it was like Ladybug was either running from them all the time, or… purposefully making their lives difficult.

"Well, I guess we'll find out if it's her or not soon. The ship Captain should recognize if it's really her better than we would."

Were they talking about Hawkmoth himself? _Oh no._ Chat spun, his gaze landing on every bit of water within sight, but he didn't see a ship on this side of the island. However, if these guys were still here, then so was their ship. And if the Captain had Ladybug, then she had to be on that ship.

He plunged back under the water. No one had seen him, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone, nothing more than a faint shadow moving fast underneath the gentle waves. When he made it to the other beach, he could see the underside of a large legion ship under the surface, and made his way right to it. It made his spines stand on end to be near one of these again, but he shoved the feeling down, and plastered himself right against the wood before surfacing again. At this angle, and away from the beach, no one would be able to spot him.

Above, there were voices, female ones this time. He listened in closely, wishing he had claws to quietly climb up the side to see.

"Tsk, tsk. And here even I thought you were gone this time, Ladybug." Chat didn't know the voice, but it couldn't be another of the lowly soldiers. It was a woman, and she sounded cold, like the kind of person that would call you useless for getting stabbed. He didn't like the sound of her, but part of him was kind of glad at least Hawkmoth wasn't here. "You and your damned lucky streak, he's not going to be happy when we bring you back _again._ "

"Don't go fishing for what you don't want, then." That was Ladybug, her voice defiant and sarcastic.

The woman he didn't know _hissed._ "You have a bounty on your head and you know it. We're not going to just let you slip away under the rug and escape your just punishment."

"Oooh, you mean murder? Cause that's _totally_ a just punishment."

"It is for you!"

"Picking and choosing based on your own opinions, dang. Can I join? I wanna sentence people to death when I don't like them, too." Okay, maybe Ladybug needed to chill on the taunting before she made it worse.

"Sorry, we don't hire pirate scum."

Chat froze. He didn't hear Ladybug's reply, drowned out by the screeching halt of his own thoughts. She was a _pirate?_

He didn't want to believe it. Pirates were cruel and ruthless, pirates hunted more of his kind than anyone else, pirates brought nothing but death for their own greed. Ladybug was kind and understanding, friendly and patient, Ladybug drew him in with her sparkling blue gaze and what felt like her very soul trying to connect with his. She felt so much like his lost link, the light that had died from his life.

Or was that just what he _wanted_ to see?

He didn't _know_ Ladybug. And she did refuse to tell him about her life, or at least why she got thrown in the ocean. She twisted the story to make it sound like only Hawkmoth was the one in the wrong, when for all he knew, she could have done horrible things to deserve what had happened.

Chat shook his head. No, no one deserved to drown without a chance, and she hadn't given him a concrete, personal reason to distrust her yet. Pirates were nothing but trouble, but she'd had plenty of chances to turn on him, and had taken none of them. If she wanted to kill him for profit, like all the others, she'd have done it already. Instead she'd offered her friendship and kind words, and that was the best he'd _ever_ gotten from a human. Whether he was only seeing what he wanted to or not, she wasn't a threat to him, at least it felt like it.

But was she really someone he wanted to get involved with? Whether she was a threat or not, these people would be, the instant they learn of his existence.

"You can't weasel your way out this time, Ladybug. We're going back to the capital and this time, Captain Hawkmoth will make sure you're in so many pieces even your luck can't pull you back together again." The scary woman's voice cut right through his thoughts again, and made the choice for him.

Maybe he was only seeing what he wanted to see. Maybe she wasn't worth getting involved with. But returning to his sad, aimless life wasn't worth letting her die for, and no one deserved whatever they planned to do to her this time. Without an ounce of hesitation, Chat plunged deep below the water, and launched himself hard off of the rock floor at the bottom. The force of his push was enough to send him straight up, through the water and breaking the surface until he was suspended in nothing but air.

He could feel the instant chill, both from the cold air touching his wet skin, and from the several wide-eyed stares that locked onto him. It was as if time froze, or slowed down to nothing for just a moment, as he stared back. Ladybug was in a heap on the deck, her hands bound behind her back, and an intimidating woman with black and red hair stood over her, a cutlass in hand. The rest of the crew faded into blurs in Chat's mind, his slitted pupils zeroing in on the weapon glinting in the light, held so close and dangerously near Ladybug's face that it sent his blood boiling.

 _Wooden railing splintered to pieces under his grip, announcing his vengeful presence along with the snarls escaping him. Right in front of him, and yet too far away for comfort, that horrible man was cackling maniacally, the knife in his hand shining in the sun where he held it against her. She was trembling, trying not to move, scared noises escaping her throat. Held up by only her hair, she held onto his wrist, trying to take her own weight off of it._

" _Both of you can't escape me this time." The man chuckled, and got nothing more than an enraged growl in response. "You will give me what I want."_

" _I can't!" She cried, tears streaming down her face. "No one can do it, not even us!"_

" _LIAR!" He screamed, shaking her in his grip and making her cry out. The rail splintered more, falling to pieces under the only witness as he saw nothing but red, but unable to find a way out. "You_ _ **will**_ _do as I say!"_

 _Nothing more could be done, as the red he was seeing became real. The shining metal disappeared into her middle, tearing through her, splattering red in gruesome pools on the deck, her screams ripping through the air. Frozen, cautionary anger turned to all-out fury, launching the black form of pure vengeance at the man at the same time she was thrown overboard in a pitiful heap._

Suddenly, her red outfit was blood, and the glistening cutlass was stained. He landed on the deck with a heavy thud, his hands flat on the wood, glaring up with thread-thin pupils. Blood was rushing in his ears, twisted rage burning under his skin. The spines on his back stood on end, his fangs bared to the world in a furious snarl. The wooden boards splintered under him as he dug his fingers into them, and the woman reacted, swinging the cutlass to point at his face.

Shining metal.

Red.

 _Red._

 _Blood._

 _ **Danger**_

Everything was red. She was here, she was hurt, they had her, they _hurt her this was their fault they were evil they wanted to use her they wanted to kill her they wanted to take her away again he would be alone again she would die again she would leave him again they did this they took her away_ _ **they can't have her**_


	7. Red Water

Ladybug had to admit to herself that, this time, she fully expected Chat to abandon her.

He already saved her once. He went out of his way, and made sure she would survive, when he didn't have to at all. He didn't owe her anything, and she was fully prepared to deal with the fate she was faced with this time, fully prepared to either think up her own escape or accept whatever was in store for her if she failed. The last thing she expected was for him to ever show himself to other people, not after how afraid he seemed to be. People were danger, and he stayed safe by staying out of sight. If he would leave and continue staying safe, she was fine with that. She'd never assume or expect someone to lay down the safety of their entire existence for her.

So when Hawkmoth's right hand woman, Natalie, had her tied and unable to escape the deck of her ship, Ladybug knew she was alone. She'd hoped she could find her crew and get back into the swing of things, but Natalie found her first, intending to nip her shenanigans in the bud this time, and the pirate knew she wasn't getting out of this easily. The woman Captain was ruthless and too smart to be fair, and without her crew, Ladybug had no hope of getting away from her for now.

The last thing Ladybug expected was to be saved, again, and definitely not by Chat, again. But she would be surprised yet again.

He appeared from the water in a spray of droplets, rising high into the air and catching everyone's attention. His appearance cut Natalie's threats off, the tall woman turning to stare in total shock at the mermaid as he landed on her ship. Everyone else was frozen, scared stiff, while Natalie recovered faster and turned her weapon on him.

It was only then that Ladybug realized how deadly of an action that may be for the Captain.

Chat didn't look like normal. He was normally quiet and demure, folding in on himself and staring down with a gaze darkened with sadness. His features were soft, his voice gentle, his every movement cautious and slow. Even his pointed fangs and his eerie cat eyes weren't scary, more like charming when combined with the rest of him. Never once did he exude a dangerous aura, an innate sense of _this is a threat and you need to run from it._

But now?

Now he did.

His cat eyes alone were scary, _predatory_ even, the normally just slightly pointed pupils thinned to almost nonexistent slits, reminiscent more of a completely wild animal than a cute cat. His fangs were bared in a snarl, twisting his face into something intimidating and dangerous and entirely unrecognizable, all of the softness and sweet expressions so far gone it was hard to imagine he was capable of them at all. The sound that escaped him was enough to freeze anyone still moving completely in place, the kind of wolf-like growl that told you to back away slowly or not move at all. And last of all, her eyes were drawn to those spines on his back, fanned out into deadly spikes and dripping what she could only assume was some kind of venom, at least until it dripped onto the wood floor and burned black holes into it did she think _acid_ instead.

Before she could think to try anything, Chat launched himself across the deck at Natalie. She raised her sword to defend herself, but it was almost embarrassing how little that did, the enraged mermaid knocking it from her hands mid air without an ounce of concern of hurting himself on it. With the weapon out of the way, there was nothing left to defend her as he slammed full body into her, Ladybug only getting a vague glimpse of his teeth aiming for her neck before they both barreled overboard from the force.

As soon as they were out of sight, the entire crew erupted into chaos. Men were running everywhere, some disappearing below deck to hide while others booked it for the island, anything to get away from the vicious beast of the deep that they'd just been witness to. In the middle of it all, Ladybug kept her head low, and inched her way to the discarded sword to cut her binds with.

Apparently, at least a couple of the crew kept their heads. One noticed her break free of the ropes, and ran toward her with a yell, brandishing his own weapon threateningly. _You should've run too, buddy._ Ladybug thought, rolling away from him and onto her feet and taking the cutlass with her. This was her element, even without her crew, if Natalie wasn't here she could take the rest of them on her own just fine. Which was good, since several of the others were now joining the first in chasing toward her.

Well, it was easier that most were running away. But she could've handled them too if they'd stayed, of course. She wasn't the most infamous pirate captain on the sea for nothing, now, was she?

She parries blows left and right, her own blade ruthless to the crew that fail to block her counterattacks. She's heard some call it luck, but Ladybug prefers to attribute her untouchable quality in battle to pure skill. The pirate darts backwards and underneath attacks that are amateur by comparison, leaving her opposition only breathless and frustrated. Aside from the ones she manages to just pitch straight overboard, of course, her calculated strikes knocking those unlucky few completely off balance. Ladybug is in the heat of the moment, the familiar rush of battle, and she decidedly does not think about what's going on below the water right now, in the back of her mind. She definitely doesn't think about how the men she's thrown overboard thrash for a few seconds before disappearing underneath and don't come back up. She's not thinking about how familiar that is to the tales of the Cataclysm, she's not thinking about how scary Chat looked, she's not thinking about Natalie and the crew being torn to shreds just out of sight.

She definitely doesn't think about the way the water is turning red.

All too soon, her opposition is shrinking, before it putters out completely. It's when the water turns red and she mostly unintentionally sends another guy over the rails to disappear into it that the few left drop their swords and raise their hands, backing away, choosing to forfeit over possibly joining whatever is happening down there. She jabs a hand at the door leading below deck, glaring at them, and they skitter away without a word. She'll deal with them later, she thinks, and then she realizes she's completely alone on the surface of Natalie's ship.

Ladybug stiffens, warily eying every corner of the ship, and more so, the water on either side. Several moments pass in silence, the thrashing in the water ceasing completely, and the only sound left being that of her own ragged breathing.

At least, that is, until she hears splashing again.

It's too similar to the time in the cave, and she slowly turns to face the direction it came from, afraid of what she'll see. When her eyes do land on him, perched on the railing, she can't stop the bolt of fear that goes through her. She'd rationalized not being afraid of him before, and really, he'd given her no reason to be, until now. He's still got the same look he did before he went under, his eyes wide and wild and there's still a wary snarl on his face, though it's much milder than before. The water has washed away most of the remnants of whatever happened below the surface, but it wasn't enough to keep his hair from staining ever so slightly darker, and she can still see blood on his teeth.

He's staring at her, and she can see no trace of the humanity she'd seen in him. Whoever she'd made friends with was not who she was looking at right now, and it sent chills up her spine. Especially when his gaze trailed down, and sent him right back into a frenzied, threatening hiss. One quick glance of her own showed the cutlass, still in her hand, now with blood on it. Looking back up, Chat was creeping off of the railing, approaching her incredibly slowly with murder written across his face, stalking forward like a predator.

He's seemed to like her enough to let her live all this time for some reason, but right now, she doesn't think even she is safe. But there's nothing she can do right now, any escape routes will just lead to death in this situation, and something at the back of her mind is tugging at her to do something crazy.

Every scenario that goes through her racing thoughts ends up being deadly. There's nowhere to escape to in this situation, and something tells her she wouldn't win in a fight against him, even without the nagging feeling that she doesn't even want to even if she could. All that's left is possibly, definitely, the craziest idea she's ever come up with, and if her crew were here, they'd never let her go through with it.

But they're not here to stop her, and she stops thinking about it before she can chicken out.

Ladybug throws the cutlass-

 _-off the ship._


	8. The Lion's Den

**A/N** **Okay so btw update for you all, I'm pretty close to being done writing ahead to the end so now that I know I won't fall behind, I'm gonna go ahead and standardize the chapter updates to Fridays! And it looks like it's gonna turn out to be somewhere in the 14-ish chapters range, give or take depending on where I place the breaks, so we're getting close to all the pieces coming together!**

* * *

Chat's head snaps up when she raises the cutlass, another hiss escaping his mouth, only to cut it off when the weapon goes flying _away_ from him. She can see the slight confusion as he blinks toward where it went, and that little bit of familiar emotion spurs her on, muting down the fear she's already trying to ignore. He's in there somewhere, and if she's careful, she knows he can come back. She doesn't know why she's so sure of it, but she is.

He looks back to her, his eyes still empty of nothing but intimidating wariness. He's stopped creeping toward her like a predator, though, the fins on his head perking up slightly as he looks at her. Raising her arms, slowly, showing her empty hands to him, Ladybug sinks down to her knees, reducing her height submissively. Chat watches her go, the spines on his back slowly laying down some, and they've stopped dripping acid.

"Chat." She calls in a whisper, and he drops the snarl, his face falling neutral. "It's me. It's okay."

He starts coming toward her again, slowly inching his way across the boards, and she has to swallow the fear she feels as he does. She keeps her hands out and her face as friendly as she can, trying to keep the fear off of it, and waiting with baited breath for what he'll do. The pirate can't be sure this will work, and if it doesn't, her death is creeping closer with each pull of its tail.

She's not ready when he reaches her, she's not ready for the lack of recognition on his face or the cautious way he reaches out for her hand. She's not ready for seeing the blood still under his nails, or the unfamiliar way he grips her skin with too much force. She isn't ready for any of it, and her heart is beating out of her chest, fear trying to choke her. It takes all of her willpower not to jump, not to back away, to make any sudden movements. Part of her knows he won't hesitate if she does, even now, as he leans toward her face and his pupils start widening ever so slightly.

Soon, his face is right in front of hers, and though the murderous vibe is draining away from him, the tension is still palpable, and she can barely breathe. When he touches her, his nose meeting her cheek, she _does_ flinch, and his grip on her hand tightens.

He breathes in. She _stops_ breathing.

Faster than she can realize what's happening, he's lurched forward, knocking her backward and pinning her to the floorboards under his weight. It sends an overwhelming spike of icy adrenaline through her, and she shivers, suddenly torn between intense fear and a fluctuating sense of hope. His other hand finds her free one, and then he's pinning both to the deck as well, leaving her well and fully immobilized beneath him. All the while, his face doesn't leave where he has it pressed against her cheek, until he moves down and she feels his breath on her throat. There's a deep, ominous growl rumbling from within him, and she can't stop herself from trembling. This is it, this is where her luck has decided to abandon her. She was too cocky to think she knew him enough to bring him back to reality.

At least, that's what she thinks.

But instead of feeling teeth and pain when his mouth connects with her neck, there is only a gentle softness, and she squeaks. He breathes again, and she dully thinks he must be recognizing her scent, before sighing and relaxing slightly against her, growling louder. Another ghost of a sensation of his lips across her neck, and he finally releases his hold on her hands, the tension draining from him with each passing second. When she carefully, fearfully, wraps her arms around his shoulders and hugs him, he collapses completely against her, and finally she can breathe again.

Her heart is still hammering away in her chest, her nerves completely frayed, but the danger has passed and she knows it. Absently, still not entirely back to his senses yet, Chat nuzzles her neck and sighs again. He sounds content, and that's better than before, so she raises one hand from his shoulders to card through his grimy hair, and she finally realizes the growls have turned to a purr.

In the back of her mind, a tiny voice jokes that he needs to decide whether he's a cat or a fish already.

Several long minutes pass, until eventually she hears him mumble something against her neck. She doesn't understand what he said, but it sounded like words instead of a growl, so she stops petting him and cranes her neck to look at him. "Chat?" She asks, quietly, still sort of afraid of sending him off the deep end again. The name is enough to get him to stir, and he pulls away enough to meet her gaze.

His pupils are back to the normal size, and there's a peaceful look on his face for just a moment that she can see. Then he seems to snap out of whatever fog he's in, when he gets a good look at her, and startles fully back to reality.

"Ladybug?!" Chat shakes his head, and finally realizes he has her pinned down to the floor under him. He jolts upright, though he can't seem to figure out how to actually back away from his position between her legs, and she hasn't actually let go of him yet, leaving him stuck where they are currently.

"Glad to see you're back with me." She just jokes, too emotionally drained from that entire experience to actually care about how flustered he's getting.

"I am so sorry, I… I don't know…" He's looking around, trying to piece everything together, and she thinks he's avoiding looking at her. His brows are drawn together, his face tense with apprehension. "I thought I was seeing things that I wasn't, and I… lost it."

"What did you think you saw, Chat?"

"I…"

She waits. He'll find his words eventually.

"I thought… I thought you were hurt."

"How?" She doesn't know why he cares, why he'd go feral over her potentially being hurt when he barely knows her, but she can't really be bothered to question it right now. It's a thought for later, when she doesn't feel like her limbs are made of lead and she wants to sleep off her anxiety for a week.

"I thought she had, c-cut you, with that…" He's struggling to put his thoughts together, his eyes going dark with that same kind of sadness she's noticed in him before. Silent, he just gestures vaguely toward his own stomach, unable to explain further.

Maybe it's because she's so emotionally drained, maybe it's the near death experience, maybe it's the position they're currently in, but whatever it is, what little shame she had is completely forgotten at the moment. Ladybug takes one look at his vague gesture, and wordlessly, pulls her own shirt up to show her perfectly injury-free stomach. "I'm fine, see? You… stopped anything from happening to me."

But her awkward words seem to fall on deaf ears, as he stares wide eyed down at her bared skin, prompting her to raise a questioning eyebrow. It's not until he speaks that she understands why he's staring.

"Is… is that a scar?"

At first, it doesn't immediately click, exactly what he's talking about. But sitting up somewhat, unintentionally leaning into his space and making him go red, allows her to look at her own skin and see what his deal is. The answer snaps into place when she sees it, the patch of paler colored skin on her own stomach not really something she paid much mind to. Ladybug looks back up at him, still confused. What's the big deal about her having a mark on her skin? "I don't really know? It's always been there, it's like a birthmark or something."

She doesn't understand why he looks like he's seen a ghost.


	9. From Dark to Light

**A/N: I spent an hour editing this and putting my formatting back in after ffn freakin deep fried it. again. thanks ffn for doing that to _the_ longest chapter yet with _the_ most randomly interspersed emphasis,** **really.**

 **Still my favorite chapter of the entire fic tho tbh**

* * *

They don't talk about it.

Well, they don't talk about a lot of things, even though they need to, and at some point they inevitably will. But for now, a tense silence hangs between them, and part of her wonders why he doesn't just leave.

Does she want him to? She doesn't know.

He isn't what she thought he was. Or, maybe she'd just forgotten what she knew all along. It had always been there, in the back of her mind, and somewhere between his warm voice and the odd urge to be near him that she still didn't understand, she'd forgotten what her common sense had told her in the first place. She'd pushed away the small part of her that still screamed concern over the pieces that didn't fit together, the part that still tried to bash her over the head with survival instincts and get away from him, because in the end, she still didn't know him.

She'd gotten caught up in the majesty of learning that things she'd always disbelieved were real, that legends and myths were more than just false stories. She'd been swept away in awe of the fact that he existed, and he was literally magical, so much so that she didn't stop to question the darker sides too much. Maybe she should have.

It doesn't matter now, because she's seen it. She's seen the animal bordering on a monster hidden behind fair skin and golden hair, she's felt the icy fear of caged prey, stared down by something they cannot hope to survive. She did, of course, survive, but that didn't change what she'd seen.

He'd leave if she asks, she thinks.

For some reason, she can't.

Maybe she's afraid to approach him.

Maybe she just doesn't want him to go.

Maybe it's more than that.

The tales of the Cataclysm make sense now. She'd forgotten about it all, brushed aside the stories into the overall ordeal of her 'near death experience', wrapping it up as one neat little package of "That happened, and it's over now, so whatever." But it wasn't just that. She should have picked back through it some more, and looked deeper into everything.

Ladybug had drowned in the dreaded dark waters, and she'd seen the bottom. She'd seen what lived there, what was the source of the stories. She'd been to the depths, and met death itself, in its own home where it shredded passersby into bloody strips and drowned fishermen for so much as inching into the wrong spot at the wrong time. She'd met the creature that lurked below, that no one else had ever survived even seeing.

Ladybug had made friends with it, and forgotten what it was capable of.

How was someone supposed to feel, at a moment like this? Was there a right way or a wrong way to handle it? She didn't know. She was a pirate, not a diplomat, she knew how to press the right buttons to piss people off, not to navigate the proverbial minefield she was in currently.

What do you do, when someone you _want_ to like, turns out to be a murderer?

The sun has set, the waters dark black and reflecting nothing in the moonless sky, when she can finally bring herself to approach him again. Her footsteps echo within the hull of the hijacked ship, lit only by sparse lanterns, and if she encounters any of them, the original crew members skitter away from her in fear. They think she's immortal, and they think he's her pet. Above, the deck is silent, empty, the rest of the crew vanishing below as soon as Ladybug allowed, and Chat is coiled up like a snake on the rails at the head of the ship. He's out of the way, and hasn't spoken a word to anyone or moved elsewhere on the ship at all in the time since their last talk.

It's been a week.

He hasn't tried to talk to her, or even look at her. He's sat here gazing out over the sea, unmoving, almost as if he's waiting for permission.

For what, she doesn't know.

"Hey." Is all she can get out as she comes close, her footsteps more tentative and hesitant than she'd have hoped. She knows he can tell. He turns his head, catching her in the green glow of his eyes in the dark, and it takes all her willpower not to flinch. For some reason, she feels like he knows that, too. He doesn't say anything, only watching her, expectant. She doesn't know what he's expecting, and she can only swallow her trepidation and hold out a hand with a mug. It trembles in her grip, but her voice is deceptively strong. "Join me?"

The mermaid turns further, both of his inhuman eyes entering her vision, and stares down at the offered drink. He looks skeptical, and after staring down at it, looks back up at her. He's silent, waiting.

"I promise it's not poisoned."

He takes the mug, warily, still eying it like it might bite him. It would be funny if it wasn't so stiff, so distrusting. As if they were enemies.

…Are they?

Ladybug turns, and leans her back against the rail a couple feet beside him, forcing an air of confidence. Taking a drink of her own mug, she isn't looking at him when she says, "We can trade if you want."

That was enough. He takes a drink.

And then splutters, coughing disgustedly. "What is this?!" He hisses, and she almost smiles. It's the first thing he's said in days.

"Alcohol." She answers simply, taking a long, long drink of her own. "It'll drown your sorrows and let you make a fool of yourself without a care in the world."

If she were looking at him, she'd have seen the way he crinkled his nose as he sniffed at it, before trying again to drink it. It went better than the first time.

It doesn't get rid of the silence between them, tense as glass and ready to shatter at any moment.

He breaks it first. "Ladybug, I-"  
She cuts him off.

"You killed her."

Chat flinches. He curls into himself some. Ladybug isn't sure what else to say. She says what comes to mind first, after a pause.

"Her name was Natalie." She takes another drink. "She was rude to her crew, and would send men overboard if they talked back to her. She liked coffee too much, and they say she used to keep cats on her ship. She'd claim it was to keep mice at bay, but the crew saw how she'd pet them when she thought no one was looking."

His hands tightened around the mug, but not enough to shatter it.

"We used to say her fate would be sad, because we always thought she was in love with Hawkmoth."

"Isn't the friend of your enemy also your enemy?" He asked, quietly. Ladybug swirled the liquid around, watching it. Thinking.

"... No." She decided, finally. "I think she could have been good, but she got caught under his influence and got stuck there."

"Do you think she would have ever left?"

"... No." Another sip. "We knew she'd never make it out alive. It's sad, but that's how it is for all of us, too."

He grimaced, catching her attention out of the corner of her eye. "All of you, as in… pirates."

"Yeah."

Silence fell, again, the tension hardening back into glass. She glanced at him.

"You don't like pirates." It wasn't a question, she didn't have to ask. It was obvious.

"No." He said no more.

"Chat Noir." Ladybug said his name with finality, and took another big gulp of her drink before continuing, the liquid courage making her tactless. "Now is the catalyst. Either we make our peace or forever go our separate ways, so if there's anything to be said, say it now."

Her tone was unwavering, steadfast. She was getting braver, due to the alcohol, and wasn't afraid to put her foot down at this point. If they didn't work it out tonight, she had to tell him to leave.

If he didn't give her reason to see his side, to forgive him, she'd only ever see the monster from the depths of the Cataclysm.

"Fine." He turned, with such force that it almost seemed as if he'd knock himself into the water. "But you're going to tell me why you're a pirate."

"Deal." She held out a hand. He just looked at it. Deciding she didn't feel like explaining, she waved it off. "Go on, say your peace."

There was a long pause. Whether it was Chat collecting his thoughts, or hesitating, or what it was, she didn't know. He downed the cup before he even started. "It was… decades ago, I don't know. Fifty years, give or take?"

Ladybug choked. "Fifty?!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I told you, mermaids live into the hundreds. Fifty is nothing. Anyway,"

He trailed off firmly, eying her. She took the hint, and drowned her words.

"Whenever it was… I wasn't always alone. See, for every generation, there's a pair of us born to inherit the powers of Creation and Destruction. The two always have to be together, they keep each other in line and in balance, and our world stays at peace under that. At least, it's supposed to, anyway."

"What does this have to do with you?" She asked, and he shot her a look.

"I'm one of the two."

"...Oh." She felt like that was supposed to make sense, like some magical revelation that answered everything, except she was still confused.

"I inherited the power of Destruction. And… _she_ inherited the power of Creation." Ladybug whispered a faint questioning _"She?"_ , but Chat continued right over her. "It was up to us to keep the balance in order, and in the meantime, it was my job to protect her. Creation can never protect herself, at least not with violence, and sometimes that's what needs to be used to save her."

This still wasn't making sense. Did she drink too much? Her mug wasn't empty yet. How many times had she refilled it before she came up here, again?

"Protecting her was my one primary responsibility. If I did nothing else with my life, I had to at least do that. And do you know what happened, Ladybug?"

He was looking at her, his glowing eyes feeling as if they were burning through her soul. She shook her head, glued in place and silenced beyond her control.

"I _failed_ her, and she _died_." He finally said, his face torn between intensity and sorrow. "I was born to protect her. We were two halves of a whole. She was perfect, the sun shined when she smiled and I could do anything with her by my side, we could do anything together. If anything happened to me, she could take care of me, she could heal me. She was Creation, she could do _anything_. She was amazing."

His eyes were filling with tears, and though she didn't realize it, Ladybug's were too. He was staring at her as if she held the answers, and she didn't. When he continued, his voice was strained, gaining volume as his emotions tipped over.

"But that's not what happened. That's _not what happened_. She was the one that got hurt. She was the one that died. And what could I do? _Absolutely nothing_. Because I'm just Destruction, aren't I? I'm the one that attacks, I'm the one that falls back on violence, I'm the one that breaks things and kills people and I'm the one that let her _DIE_." The last word came out as a shout, tears finally spilling over his cheeks, his voice devolving into sobs. "She was my other half and I watched him kill her."

"Hawkmoth." Ladybug breathed, everything clicking together. Her hands itched to reach out to him, to comfort him, and she didn't want to question why. Chat nodded harshly.

"It's been so long. She's been gone for so long, Ladybug, and I don't know what to do without her. Fifty years is nothing for us and it feels like a lifetime already and I want it to be over." He looks away, back out over the ocean, and covers his mouth with his free hand. He's trying to cover up the sounds of his own overwhelming heartache, and Ladybug just puts a hand on his shoulder, lightly enough for him to pull away if he wants to. He doesn't. "The incarnations of Creation and Destruction are always soulmates, and mermaids mate for life. She was my other half in every possible way and without her I'm just-"

He cut himself off, choking and hiccuping. She almost thought he wouldn't finish the thought, until he turned back toward her, with the most desperate puppy expression she'd ever seen in her life.

"I really am just a monster without her, aren't I? I didn't _want_ to kill Natalie, I didn't mean to, it was just the way she was threatening you and you _look_ like her and it was so much like back when he killed her and I couldn't go through it again, and…" He was rambling, somehow her hand had ended up clutched in his and he was slowly curling in on himself further, as if he could escape his pain. "All of the humans who came by my ravine, I shouldn't have blamed them but I _did_ and I was _scared_ -"

Ladybug had had enough, and finally, she just wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, almost crying as much as he was. "It's okay, it's okay." She soothed, pitching her voice low and repeating it over and over, just wanting him to relax again. It hurt to see him this way, she didn't know why, but it hurt as if she was feeling his pain too.

She didn't want him to keep going, to keep explaining, when she already _understood_ but he did, he'd opened the floodgates and the choked words didn't stop coming and it was almost as if he'd never gotten to talk to anyone about any of this, and then it hit her that _he hadn't._

"The others are dead. They started disappearing after she died, because we couldn't protect them. I tried, I really did, but she would come up with plans and solutions to make everyone happy even if the humans didn't realize it, and without her, all I could do was fight back and it didn't work. Even him, he knew, he hunted us all down to give him what she couldn't and he didn't stop until he never saw another one of us."

Assuming he meant Hawkmoth again, but she was afraid interrupt him to ask.

"He was a pirate, Ladybug. He was a pirate and he took her away and then he killed them all."

She just held him tighter. She had no words, nothing that could fix or change anything he'd gone through. She couldn't bring back his other half, or erase his heartbreak. Soon, he pulled away and stared up at her with such betrayal that it hurt.

"But you, you're a pirate too. If there were more of us, would you hunt them too? Would you… are you like _him?_ "

The broken tone he spoke in, the defeated look on his face. It stabbed right through her heart and wouldn't dislodge itself and she found herself holding onto his shoulders so much tighter.

" _No!_ Chat I would never. I'm not that kind of pirate." She held on so tightly she might leave bruises, but he didn't complain, and only took hold of her arms just as hard as she caught his gaze. She hoped beyond hope that he would understand, that he could believe her. "It was the only option, Chat. It was the only thing I could do, and now I have no choice but to keep going after Hawkmoth until he's gone."

"But _why?_ Why do you go after him?"

"I…" It had all started so long ago, it began so simply and completely out of her control. She'd never bothered to explain it to anyone else, her crew already knew, and the words to do so now were completely escaping her grasp. She shook her head, and let the shortest version she could come up with fall out of her mouth. Now wasn't the time to be telling him her life story, all the nuances and reasoning. What he needed right now was a reassurance, not a history lesson. "Because _he_ came after _me_ , Chat. Becoming a pirate was the only way to escape him, and now, no one else will stand up to him. I'm not a pirate for the same reasons your Hawkmoth was, I'm not going to hurt you, and I never would have hurt someone you cared about."

That was it, that was the last straw before his self control broke. Forget the floodgates, the entire dam came crumbling down, and then he was just a blubbering mess in her arms, clinging to her as if she'd disappear if he let go.

"You're so much like her." He cried, clutching her tighter, and her heart broke into thousands of tiny little pieces. Was she only making it worse if she was so similar? "Why?! Why is fate taunting me?"

"Chat…"

He continued right over her, as if he couldn't hear her at all. "Why? We're bound for life, our souls are connected, I _cannot_ love anyone the way I do her so why does it feel like I love _you?_ Why does it feel like you're her, why does it feel like she isn't gone when you're here? Am I so shallow that anyone who looks like her makes my heart cry?"

Ladybug froze, unable to process his tirade fully. Oh, no, this was so much more complicated than she'd thought. She really was just making it worse, she was so similar to his dead soulmate that he was confusing the two, and it was tearing him apart inside. She needed to push him away, to separate herself from him, ease his confusion and let him mourn, this wasn't her place and she couldn't help him so _why wasn't she letting go?_

"I'm so sorry." He mumbles through his tears, defeated, sliding off the rail and onto the deck floor to collapse in an overwhelmed heap. She goes with him, not letting go for a moment, until they're both on the floor and she's still hugging him so tightly, wishing that could make it better.

She was wrong. She had been _so_ _wrong._ Chat wasn't a monster, he never had been.

He was a misguided, heartbroken widower, torn apart by decades of mourning his soulmate _alone_ at the bottom of the ocean. And still, he'd chosen to save her, and she'd only turned on him without hearing his side. It was no wonder he'd been so scared from the start.

He wasn't hers, but still, she felt for him. It was tragic every which way around, and if she could make it better, she would, but there was nothing to be done. Part of her wished his Hawkmoth was still alive so she could kick his ass.

"Shhhh, it's okay." She soothed again, petting his soft hair and rocking them both gently side to side. "I'm here for you, Chat."

They stayed like that for a while, how long, she didn't know. Ladybug couldn't care less about paying attention to the time, instead just wanting him to be okay, not matter how long that it took. Eventually he did calm down a considerable amount, his cries turning to faint sniffles, though his grip on her didn't loosen at all. When he wasn't making any noise at all, she patted him gently, and pulled back some.

"How are you feeling, _Chaton?_ "

Chat leaned back to look at her too, and his eyes blew wide at the nickname. Hers did too, the instant she realized what she'd said, and she was already scrabbling for an apology.

"I'm so sorry Chat, that was out of line, I-"

But then he was so much closer, and in an instant his lips crashed to hers and it was as if they both fell under a spell, unable to remember what was right.


	10. The Forest of Pink Coral

It was her.

It wasn't her.

It was.

It _wasn't._

He was at war in his own mind, while the rest of him drowned in her. She was everything he had lost, everything he missed, she was purely intoxicating and his instincts were revelling in it. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't have stopped, it was like he'd been drowning for years and she was the air he so desperately needed. His hand held her cheek, her skin soft and _familiar_ , and her lips fit perfectly against his as if they were made for each other.

They were.

 _They weren't._

Her body was warm, warmer than it should have been, but it bled through his thick skin where they touched and reminded him of colorful fish and pink coral. Her clothes bothered him, the rough fabric and jagged buckles digging into him, but he didn't dare invade her space any more than he already was. His instincts were screaming, pushing him down, but he wouldn't let them take over completely. Instead, though, he couldn't stop from giving in to the urge to thread his fingers in her hair, or to press her harder against the floorboards. The _sound_ she made when he did sent a shudder down his spine, and the growl that escaped his throat was purely feral.

When did she end up under him? He didn't care.

He did care. It wasn't her.

It didn't matter.

Her hands were on his shoulders, her grip tight, but otherwise she was slack and pliant beneath him. It was like she belonged there, or felt like she did, and he was okay with that. Only a day ago she'd been glancing at him with looks that were only marginally less afraid than those of Natalie's crew, and now here she was, perfectly welcoming to have him so much closer to her than should have ever been appropriate, and it definitely wasn't, and he _didn't care._ It shouldn't have, she wasn't her, but seeing her look at him with fear had hurt. It tore at his heart, jostling the open wounds already there, and made the dark depths of his ravine sound appealing again just to escape his mistakes yet again.

But she was here now. She wasn't afraid. She was never meant to be afraid, she was his other half, and he would always protect her.

Was she afraid because he had failed?

 _She's not her._

Confusion bounces around the inside of his head, fighting with the way his body was practically doing whatever the hell it wanted, and he pulled away enough to shake his head. It didn't help, didn't fix the rattling thoughts, and she pulled him closer and erased the distance he'd created in doing so.

Looking at her face was a mistake, because all he could see was _her._

Expression smooth, worry and fear forgotten, she gazed up at him so warmly he wasn't sure if it burned his heart or soothed it. The beautiful crystal blue of her eyes was darker than usual, but that, too, was so familiar. He knew that look, he'd seen it enough times before, even if it had been so long ago. Why was that, again? She was right here. Her cheeks were flushed pink, rushed breaths escaping her parted lips.

Her legs wrapped around him, pulling him well and fully flush against her. He barely registered, no, he didn't take notice at all that she had legs and not a tail. The rational part of his mind was slipping under a fog, his coherent thoughts going with it. All that was left was _her,_ warm and wonderful and so very alive.

Of course. Why wouldn't she be?

She made a pitiful noise, and soon he was back, nuzzling her cheek. Was he purring? Maybe. His hand fell from her other cheek, trailing down until he could wrap his arm around her waist and hug her close as if she would vanish at any second, disappear into the void and leave him alone again. The contact made her sigh, and he nuzzled down her neck, purring louder.

Her hands found their way to his hair, gently scratching through it and petting his fins, and if he wasn't already a mess, he'd have probably melted under her touch right then. She was warmth, and safety, and everything was okay, and it felt like he was whole. He'd felt so empty for so long, why had he ever let her go?

Ever so gently, giving her plenty of time to react, his hand slid from her back and found its way under the end of her shirt. When a startled squeak escaped her, he stilled, but she only shook her head and mumbled something incoherent. Her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling just enough, and he continued. The skin on her back was just as soft and smooth as her face, of course, he knew that. He wanted to melt away into this moment, surrounded in nothing but the softness that was her, and forget the world around them. His touch trailed up, around her side, brushing so gently to her front.

The softness ended. Her skin was rough here, textured, scarred. A testament to regrets past.

He was so glad she was okay.

Under him, she wasn't much less of a mess than he was. So warm and so flushed red, she was still breathing heavily, and she was clinging harder to him again. She buried her face in his hair, trembling, and he just kept purring, content to stay right where they were forever.

But despite everything, though, she managed to pull free of her own dreamy state, and nudged him gently.

"Hey, uh…"

"Yes, Marinette?"

He'd never know what she was going to ask.

She _froze_.

"How did… how do you… Chat, how do you know my name?"

And in an instant, everything shattered, reality raining down on him like shards of glass. He wrenched back, out of her space, guilt _flooding_ his conscience, and stared down in abject horror.

There were no white fins, no tiny patches of pink scales hiding at the edges of her face. The legs wrapped around him were decidedly _not_ a familiar pink tail, their owner decidedly _not_ a mermaid, and _not her because she was_ _ **dead**_ _._

What was he _doing_ here? He didn't belong here. She wasn't his mate. This wasn't okay. He was bound to only one, and this wasn't her, and he was cruel to take advantage and depraved to forget where his loyalty was.

No matter how much she looked like her.

No matter how much she sounded like her.

No matter how much her soul felt like hers.

 _This wasn't her._

"I'm so sorry." Chat scrambled back, away from her, away from her touch and the mistakes he was making, not registering how she reached for him. His back met the railing, and without a doubt, he knew a choice had been made, whether he liked it or not. "I'm sorry."

He was gone before she could say anything, disappearing from her without a trace into the black ocean.

* * *

The water was cold, colder than it had ever been.

At least, that's how it felt.

The chill of the dark, sunless ocean pressed in on all sides, feeling as if it could surge right through his thick marine skin. It was so dark, pitch black and empty in every direction, the previously comforting blanket of shadow now feeling like an oppressive cage, smothering him in its icy grip. And though the sea was always much more silent than the land above, its sounds much more peaceful, tonight it was just as if everything had been snuffed out. There were no distant bellows of large sea creatures, or the excited chatter of dolphins, or the tiny murmur from schools of fish, everything that normally converged together and created the voice of his home.

Worst of all, he was well and truly alone. There was no one here to reassure him, to save him from himself, to be there when he needed it most.

And he'd done it to himself, this time.

How far the mermaid swims, aimlessly into the black, he doesn't know. Maybe he'll venture so far off from where he knows that he'll never be able to find his way back, never have to face his regrets. And what is he so regretful of, really? Is it the shame of feeling like he had betrayed the one person who had been, and was still, the most important thing in his existence?

Or did he regret stripping himself of something that reminded him so much of what happiness once was? Did he regret choosing to plunge himself back into the icy loneliness he'd come to know as his only companion?

Or… did he regret abandoning Ladybug, without so much as a warning or a why? Was it because he didn't want her to feel upset about it, or was he only convincing himself for his own sake that she cared enough to miss him?

Was he still seeing her as someone she wasn't? Did he know her at all?

Did it matter?

Now, he guessed, it really didn't. He'd run away now, the choice had been made. He couldn't go back now and even if he backtracked entirely and convinced himself he could, by the time he grew sick of this aimless wandering, he may never find his way back to exactly where she was.

He didn't have a soul connection to lead him this time, not anymore.

At least, not with her.

Maybe it was better this way.

In all his circling, following random currents, and halfhearted meandering, he didn't pay any attention to where he was going. He didn't make the connection that his body was following familiar paths, warm currents leading somewhere, not even as the previously too deep to see scenery became shallower, lighter, coming into sight, bringing with it colorful rocks and coral.

The water became lighter, bluer, brightening in the dazzling brilliance of the rising sun. The water here was so different from further north, more crisp and so inviting, along with the beautiful array of every imaginable color of coral painting the soft, sandy floor. Unlike the pressing silence of the night, the fish here were flitting in and out of crevices, going about their tiny little lives without a care in the world, fully unaware of their larger cousin's distress. Chat himself barely realized the change, or where he was, the passage of time lost on him until he'd drifted so off course that he collided with some of the taller coral.

It shook him back to his senses. For just a moment, he forgot the darker waters, the cold. He forgot the pirate who was so cruelly identical to what he wished so desperately for.

All he could see, for miles in all directions, was a forest of beautiful pink coral. The same pink that haunted his dreams, always just so barely out of his reach, now pouring into every edge of his vision.

As if he were in a dream, or even a nightmare, his body moved of its own accord. Chat was left frozen in absolute dread for where his fins were taking him, an anguished cry gathering in his throat but unable to escape. He didn't want to be here, he didn't want to see this place.

He was trying to run from his problems, not face them head on.

His tail wouldn't listen. It kept pushing him forward, weaving in and around the coral with the muscle memory he'd thought would be long, long gone. The bright fish, of all colors of the rainbow, watched him go with more curiosity than they had fear, and started to follow along with him. Though the spike of despair was growing larger and larger in his chest with each passing moment, the colorful little friends he'd long forgotten nibbled at the edges of his loneliness with the way they clung to him like enamoured children.

He was torn between feeling like this was a mystical experience, revisiting such a beautiful and important place with a school of rainbow fish following him, and feeling absolute horror at where this trip would lead. Still, his course did not waver, and at this point he didn't know if he was doing it himself or not.

The path he took led them patiently around the scenery, enough to show him old signs of the past. The occasional gouge carved into some of the pink material, each with a memory attached firmly to it, or an impossibly distinct appearance of rocks or objects left in such a specific pattern or place that he could not be mistaken as to their origin. In one place, even, a patch of plant life from another area that had most definitely not wandered here all on its own, its journey another close held memory in his mind.

And after what felt like both an eternity and a mere split second, his path curved and dipped, taking him down within the steadfast cover of lovely pink and into the hollowed sand below, shells and objects and beautiful plants of all kind dotting the nest floor.

But most important of all, among everything that held memories and emotions he'd long tried to bury and hide from, right in the center of it all and bathed in a ray of the glittering sun above, rested a single pink sphere, its occupant forever sealed away from the world of the living.

When Chat rested his eyes on the indestructible barrier wedged into the sand, he expected to be overcome with negative emotion. To suddenly feel his repressed feelings of so many years overflow and spill out, to leave him as much of a broken, screaming wreck as the day she'd been taken away. But as his gaze focused on the translucent pink sphere, its size large enough that even he would have fit inside, none of that happened. His mounting terror fizzled away with his breath as he looked at it, and all those emotions he'd expected did nothing more than drift idly in the back of his mind, no heavier than mist.

The thing he felt most of all, in place of them, was a sense almost like nostalgia. Peaceful and longing, wishing for what once was, but accepting that it was gone.

It was easy to approach, entirely of his own volition, with that emotion instead of dread. It was easy to press his hands on the glass-like surface, letting the rest of his body fall to rest languidly on the sand. And, most of all, it was so much easier than he ever would have guessed, to peer inside and witness the source of his nightmares for decades.

Curled in among the sand and seaweed inside of the sphere, as peaceful as if she was just sleeping and still just as vibrant and beautiful as the day she stopped moving forever, his other half laid in her final resting place. The only part of her that gave away her true condition was the wound on her stomach, the bleeding long since unable to continue and the raw flesh grey with the lack of life.

The turmoil within him slowly relaxed, the raging sea of his emotions lulling to a tranquil state as he gazed at her. He truly did expect, that if he ever came back to this place, his grief would kill him. But in the end, even in death, she could not do that to him.

"Marinette." He sighed, resting his head against the translucent surface, and wishing that it was her. In a way, it was. The pink bubble encasing her body the last of her magic, the last mark she could leave on this world, its purpose purely to keep her powerful body from falling into the wrong hands. But though it, too, was entirely her, he still wished she was closer.

All the same, he shifted, curling his tail around the sphere, and allowing his body to relax into the sand while his mind wandered. Unclouded, for the moment, his thoughts scattered, sifting through everything it could, with a clarity that only breaking free from grief could provide. It was there, resting in the hollow they'd called home together, alongside what was left of her, that he realized two things.

Ladybug hadn't just been shocked he'd called her by the wrong name. It was because he'd accidentally said her _true_ name.

And the other thing he realized?

The faint and decayed, but unbreakable connection to his soulmate, the tug that led him always back to her side, the thing he'd come to learn to ignore leading back to _this_ one place, was coming from somewhere else.

* * *

 **A/N:** **just a quick note, it was hard to explain properly from Chat's perspective of already knowing this, but my mermaid lore basically says that their tails are indestructible and when they die, they don't really decay very fast at all. to prevent humans from scavenging them for bad uses (like hunting more mermaids, with indestructible scale armor) the last of their power manifests in a magic bubble coffin after death. after a century or two, the whole thing turns to dust.**


	11. Captain Ladybug

" _Marinette, dear, are you sure? You don't really like fish."_

 _She nods her head, a bit more enthusiastic than strictly necessary, and the older woman just chuckles. "Well, alright. Here you go." She leans down, handing the plate of fried snacks to the small child, who takes it with a squeal and skitters off to the next room. Her mother is left there, raising an eyebrow at her antics._

 _Marinette makes it to the table she can barely see the top of, and slams the plate onto it, startling the huge man napping in a chair nearby. He rubs the sleep from his eyes, blinking back into focus just in time to see his daughter with half of the fish patties somehow already shoved into her mouth at once, and he can't help the bellow of laughter that escapes him._

" _Since when do you like these, my little princess?" He asks, leaning forward to take one that had so far escaped her snack annihilation. She's quick to share, excitedly picking up the plate and practically shoving it in his face, and it's only his quick reflexes that stop the food from launching into his lap._

" _Oops." She says, somehow, around the mass of snacks she hasn't yet managed to chew. He just laughs again, and bites into his own rescued fish, and almost misses the child suddenly dashing out of the room. "I wanna swim!"_

 _He chokes, and is out of the chair in an instant, tripping over the table as he runs after her out of the house._

" _Marinette you don't know_ _ **how**_ _to swim!"_

Except she did.

She remembers it clear as day.

Ladybug lays on the floor of the captain's quarters, her legs on the bed. She stares up at the ceiling, her thoughts running all over the place, part of her even starting to question if the wood under her back is real. Her hair is a mess, tangled and sprawled around her head on the floor. She hasn't slept.

There's too much to think about. Too much that she has never thought about before. Too much that _doesn't make sense._

She knows who she is. She's Ladybug the infamous lucky pirate, and before that, she was Marinette the innocent baker's daughter. She's never known anything else, has no memories that don't match that. It should make perfect sense, it should be entirely clear.

Right?

But it doesn't.

She doesn't remember learning to swim. She remembers her parents constantly pointing out things she completely changed opinion on, no, more like she'd developed opinions in the first place when before, she'd never cared for anything. The change was abrupt, overnight, but she doesn't remember her tastes or interests changing.

She doesn't remember the days before they did.

She only remembers something almost like suddenly waking up, as if she hadn't existed before.

" _Marinette, did you get hurt?"_

 _She looks up in pure confusion, surrounded in bubbles. The water is wonderful, it's warm and feels like home, in a way she doesn't know how to express yet. It brings a sense of longing, like she wants something, but she doesn't know what it is. But her mother is looking down at her with concern, and she only gets more confused, looking down to investigate herself. The older woman's hand appears in her vision, pointing toward her belly._

" _See? Where did this scratch come from?"_

 _It's pink at the edges, like a healing scrape. She doesn't know how it got there, but it doesn't hurt, so she doesn't really care. Marinette only shrugs, and continues playing, forgetting about the mark entirely within moments._

But where _did_ it come from? Apparently it wasn't there before. Why would something like that just suddenly appear, overnight?

Her mind trails back to the look Chat gave her when he saw it, like he recognized it, clear as day. As if he'd seen it before. Did he say his partner had something similar? She isn't sure. She wonders.

Somehow, she's pretty sure it's true.

The pirate stares up at the ceiling with an intensity that almost feels like it could set fire to the ship, a massive headache forming from her lack of sleep and constant digging through her memories.

She's not even entirely sure why she's doing this. It could be to keep her mind off Chat, because if she thinks about him too much she knows she's going to spiral. And why, even, does she care so much? She's known him for a few days at best, and he clearly has his own issues to work through. She shouldn't be feeling like she's gone through a break up when she thinks about how he left. She shouldn't be feeling like she's lost something important.

Working through her memories and trying to figure herself out is better than sulking, she rationalizes. But she can't help but feel like she _needs_ to, like there's something obvious she's missing that she needs to know.

But she can't figure out what it is.

Not for the first time, Ladybug finds herself missing her home. She wants to go back to her city, find the bakery nestled in on a street corner somewhere, see her parents. It's been so long since she left, so long since she'd last seen them. They'd have insight on all of this, she knows, they'd be able to help her put the pieces together.

But she can't do that right now, she has a crew to find first, and she's not particularly keen on the idea of giving her parents the gritty details of pirate life either. Ladybug sighs, crosses her ankles on the bed, and stares harder at the ceiling.

Her head is pounding. She hopes her parents are well, that Hawkmoth has left them alone. He probably wouldn't remember them at this point, if he ever realized they were related to her in the first place. Unbidden, another memory crosses her thoughts, and she doesn't stop it.

" _Oooh, Marinette, look at this one!"_

 _Marinette sidles over at the voice, peering over her best friend's shoulder at the array of seashells spread before them. The stall owner just smiles at the young teens and their wide stares, and says something that Marinette doesn't hear at all, her attention well and fully absorbed by the shells. Her gaze is drawn in by the colors, by the shapes that bring images of the ocean to mind, and a nagging feeling that she knows what they'll feel like even before she picks one up._

 _She's right. As she turns it over in her hands, Alya is giving her a thoughtful look, and soon speaks up again._

" _Y'know girl, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were a fish, what with the way you gawk at anything that so much as touched the water."_

" _Alya! That's rude. I just think it's pretty." Marinette huffs, setting the shell ever so gently back on the table. She turns away, facing her back to Alya, and dramatically crosses her arms in a faux pout._

" _I'm just teasing." The other girl laughs, but quickly cuts herself off. "Whoa, is that the Captain of the guard?"_

 _Marinette cracks open an eye, still not entirely convinced it's not just Alya trying to distract her. But her friend is being honest, and the infamously cruel Captain is standing not so far away, exuding an air of danger and making anyone nearby back away from him. That's not what bothers her, though._

 _She's heard the horror stories, the talk among the small businesses and merchants, but she's never seen the guy in person before. There's something about him, something she can't quite place her finger on, that makes her skin crawl. There's a bubbling sense of distaste rising in her throat, and she almost feels angry, for reasons she honestly can't place. It's like just seeing him has soured her entire mood, and just from seeing him once, she kind of already hates him. There's just something that doesn't sit right with her._

 _It only gets worse when he turns his head, and time slows to a crawl as his eyes lock with hers through the crowd. A startled kind of shock crosses his face, before morphing into a narrowed glare that sends pure ice through Marinette's veins. Instantly it's not just a slightly off feeling about him, it's become pure terror, as if she was facing something inherently deadly._

 _Time resumes as his hand raises. He points straight at her._

" _You! You're under arrest!"_

 _Marinette is frozen, unable to react under the pure hatred of his stare as he approaches. Before she can figure out what to do, or plead her innocence for whatever he thinks she's done, Alya is dragging her down a nearby alleyway and running. "Alya, wait! We can't run from the law, it's just a misunderstanding!" She protests, her fear growing as guards give chase. But Alya only glances back for a moment, a dark look crossing her features._

" _Hawkmoth doesn't_ _ **do**_ _misunderstandings, Marinette. Whatever he thinks you've done, he'll punish you for."_

There never was much to argue, nothing they could have changed, from then on. Everyone knew Hawkmoth's favorite, and only, method of punishment for civilians was hangings.

Ladybug rolls over on the floor, and groans into it. It still doesn't add up. She never did find out why he went after her so aggressively in the first place, and now that she's seen the way Chat reacted to his name? Even if it was a different person, it was strange. For a moment, it crosses her mind that maybe her Hawkmoth is a descendent of the one Chat dealt with, but that doesn't explain his grudge against her. It doesn't explain _anything._

There are no easy answers. She's so _confused._

The pirate had never questioned things so much before. Sometimes things didn't add up, but she didn't let it bother her, just went on and accepted how things were, but now her confusion and frustration at not being able to piece everything together all this time was starting to weigh down on her. Her own memories seemed off, her arch nemesis was a complete mystery, somehow an actual live _mermaid_ was related in some backwards way, it was becoming so ridiculous she was almost starting to think she had _definitely_ died in the Cataclysm and all of this was just some kind of afterlife fever dream.

Frustration pools in the form of her fist, which she slams dully against the floor beside her head. The vibration rings through her skull and makes her headache throb, and with it, a thought crosses her mind with such clarity it's like being drenched in cold water.

Chat sees someone else in her.

What if Hawkmoth sees someone else, too?

What if, all this time, she had never done anything except _look_ like someone he had a grudge against?

She rolls over again. It's an interesting theory, and it's better than not having any idea of the man's reasoning at all, but it still doesn't explain everything. Who is Hawkmoth seeing in her? Yes, Chat and the mermaid he sees when he looks at her did have a run in with someone named Hawkmoth, but that was ages ago. The Hawkmoth she knows can't possibly be that old, and theirs would have died long before. It can't be the same person.

That's what she tells herself. But why does the most impossible theory have to make the most sense? If Chat and his partner fought a man named Hawkmoth years ago, and _she_ died, and now Chat sees that same girl in Ladybug now? And another man _also_ named Hawkmoth is holding a grudge against her for someone else he _also_ sees in her?

 _And_ her name was Marinette?

People have the same names all the time, it's nothing new. But two different men who both go by Hawkmoth, who have attacked both her and another girl who looked exactly like her and had the same name? It's just weird. And why would a random power hungry guard Captain be so coincidentally related to a pirate and mermaid skirmish from half a century back? And what does any of this have to do with her?

 _How_ did she get into this _mess?_

She groans again, a long, drawn out noise attempting to vent her frustration. Yes, it could all be chalked up to a weird coincidence, or a weird repeat of history, stranger things have happened of course. But those things didn't involve a specific commonality, the _exact_ same thing from both situations bridging the two. In this case, that was Chat.

He made everything _so much more_ complicated, purely because he's involved in the exact coincidental history repeat as the original. Something still doesn't add up, because even if it was all just a weird glitch in reality, then he should have no interest in her. Lookalikes or not, his dead partner was his soulmate, and he seemed to have a stronger sense of people or magic or whatever than humans did.

Shouldn't he be able to tell she isn't the same person he lost? Maybe she's identical, maybe they'd be like twins. And obviously, logically, he knew they were different people. But in that moment on the deck, she could see his awareness slip, could see the way the lines blurred and he forgot who he was with. But deep down, shouldn't he still _know?_

What made him so confused in telling her apart from someone who died years ago? What made Ladybug so special?

Why did he spare her in the first place?

Why did he leave?

Why did she _care?_

Her fist met the floor again, and then again. Why did she care so much, why did she want him to come back? She wasn't his partner, she shouldn't be feeling rejected that he left. He was _supposed_ to leave, he wasn't going to just hang around her side forever like the pet this crew thought he was. She shouldn't be feeling so conflicted about everything. It was all so _stupid._

Ladybug had already come all this way on her own, with no one but her crew to turn to. She'd built her resistance against Hawkmoth all on her own, and survived everything he'd thrown at her all on her own up until that dip in the Cataclysm. And now, since then, why does everything have to revolve around the stupid attractive fish that rescued her?

She wants him to come back, even though she shouldn't. She's so hung up on a guy she barely knows, it's infuriating.

Damn it all. Chalk it up to mermaid charm, and then damn _that_ especially.

A knock at the door cuts off her thoughts, which were quickly becoming a dull muted tone of just straight internal screaming. Lifting her head off the floor, Ladybug faced the door just in time to see one of the crew members tentatively push it open just a crack. "Um, miss Ladybug?"

"That's Captain to you." She snapped back, instantly, almost on a reflex. He flinched, and she almost felt bad. This crew were terrified of her, both for her death defying tendencies and the show Chat had put on back at the island, when really she had no intention of personally hurting them if they left her alone. Right now, though, she was better off if they were afraid of her, since that meant they wouldn't try to pull a fast one on her before she found her own crew.

"Right, yes, sorry. Captain Ladybug. Uh, we've spotted a set of ships on the horizon, the lookout thinks they're having a skirmish."

She raised an eyebrow at him from the floor. "And why should I care about that?"

"They appear to be the, um… One of them is yours."

That got her attention. Ladybug sat up, legs still on the bed, and twisted to at least mostly face the door properly. Excitement was rising in her chest, at the notion that seeing _her_ crew on _her_ ship was just on the horizon. "And the other?"

"That one is… Captain Hawkmoth's flagship, ma'am."

Damn it all. Her reunion would have to wait.

"... We're going to intercept. That fight is mine."

She rolls to her feet, standing upright in what feels like a split second and ignoring the way it makes her head spin, and then she's out the door and brushing past the crewmate before he can react. He flinches away and freezes, and Ladybug can't help but pause and stare pointedly back at him. Getting the hint, he rushes to fall into step by her side.

"Erm… Are you, sure you want to attack Captain Hawkmoth himself?" He sounds anxious, nerves making his voice thick.

The pirate only gives him a half glance as she marches down the hall. "What else am I to do, pretend I don't know he's there and go somewhere else? Abandon my crew? I think not. Think what you want of us, I'm not leaving my friends to die."

"I didn't… I'm not implying-"

"You just don't want him to know I made you help me." She noted, and his wince and following silence proved her right. "It's okay. I know his ideals, you'll all be killed if he decides this was treason."

The next few feet are punctuated only by a heavy, fearful silence. She knows how it must feel. No one on this ship has done anything wrong, anything more than just their jobs, and submitting to her was the only way they'd live through the fight Chat had started. But Hawkmoth, ever the empathetic leader, won't see it that way. He'd say the crew should have died before ever helping her in exchange for their lives.

When they reach the door leading to the deck, Ladybug pauses, her hand just shy of pushing it open. The tension in the dark hall grows while she gathers her thoughts, the crewmate behind her growing ever more fearful. He nearly jumps out of his skin when she looks back at him, but tries to look like he's composed.

She can't help but notice how young he looks. She wonders if he chose this, or if becoming a guard was the only choice he had.

"Listen," The pirate starts, her voice gentle. "If you want to escape Hawkmoth's wrath, you're going to have to be careful. I'm going to fight him, again, but if I lose, he's still going to know you were forced to help me, and I think we both know what he'll do then."

Turning to face him more fully, she continues, the tension draining away in light of her open honesty.

"So if I lose, I suggest the lot of you get out of here and flee to another kingdom. He'll be too distracted with my crew to even think about going after a few deserters, and will probably forget all about you. You'll be better off then."

A moment passes, and she turns back to the door, pushing it open and letting light stream into the hallway. The crewmate's quiet voice makes her pause, the fear absent from his tone.

"And what do we do if you win?"

She smiled. "Go back to your city. Keep your jobs. No one will know anything different from whatever you choose to tell them."

* * *

 **A/N: So how many points do I get for making this as needlessly complicated as canon? instead of "I love him but he loves other me but I don't realize that he also loves other me and I keep rejecting him" this is "he keeps mistaking me for her but I'm not her but this other guy also acts like I'm her and everyone has the same name and also I might be her except that doesn't make any sense I might be in love with a fish"**


	12. The Beginning of the End

**A/N: Gonna be gone this weekend, so this chapter's a day early! Enjoy the climactic battle~**

* * *

Ladybug stepped out into the light with her head high, her shoulders squared and confident. All of her previous uncertainty forgotten for now, replaced with a determined focus. The ups and downs of the past few days still hung heavy in her mind, but like this, she was back in her element. Even without her crew, without her own ship, knowing they were just within her grasp was enough to make even this unfamiliar ship feel like just another extension of herself.

This was where she shined. Everything up to now had been mostly out of her control, driven purely by Chat, with her only along for the ride. Now, though, with a sturdy ship beneath her feet and a clear objective on the horizon, Ladybug could take matters back into her own hands and get back to what she did best.

Even if part of her did secretly wonder what it would be like to raid a ship with a mermaid by her side.

Marching up to the first mate of Natalie's crew, Ladybug nodded to him. "I hear you've spotted my ship." She said, looking out over the waves for a moment, hoping to spot the beloved red. More resolute than the rest of the men, he held his ground without a tremor and caught her gaze.

"Look out there," He pointed in another direction, and Ladybug turned, squinting her eyes against the sparkling water. The high sun was drifting back down in the sky, lighting up the ocean in a ray of blues and greens, and creating an extremely stark contrast with the two warring ships not actually all that far away by this point. It only took a moment of focusing for Ladybug's previous excitement to return, her heart lifting at the sight of what was, unmistakably, _her_ ship. With impressive bright red sails and a body of stark black against the waves, the infamous Lucky Charm was nothing short of beautiful, especially compared to the gaudy purple ship right beside it.

In short, it was a sight for sore eyes, and Ladybug had never been happier to see it than now.

Filled with a giddy sort of energy, an impatience to get back to what was hers and to give Hawkmoth a piece of her mind for the chaotic adventure he's sent her on, Ladybug turned to the first mate with a glimmer in her eyes. "How fast can this ship go?"

"Fast enough to reach them in a few minutes, stopping beside them for boarding at that speed is another question entirely, however." He replied, giving her a sideways glance.

"Oh don't worry about stopping, that won't be a problem."

The sideways glance turned into a full on, incredulous stare. "Please tell me you're not expecting us to ram into them."

"Hmmm…" For a moment, Ladybug tapped her chin and pretended like she was considering it, earning a gaping look of shock from the first mate. Then she chuckled. "No, of course not, I'm just messing with you. Just sail right past Hawkmoth's ship as closely as possible without hitting him and I'll handle the rest, got it?"

For a side character with no development, the first mate had some pretty funny expressions. He heaved a great sigh, clearly more than a little troubled with the problematic pirate, and just shook his head. "Alright, whatever you say. Everyone, to your posts!" The last part was said in a raised voice, catching the attention of the rest of the crew and sending a few scrambling to whatever their usual places were. While Ladybug watched them, the first mate wandered back over to the helm of the ship, spinning the wheel and changing their course to face the waging battle.

Just as usual, Ladybug's luck followed her again. As soon as the ship was turned, the wind was at their back, catching the huge sails above her head and pushing them forward. The water below was becoming a little less than peaceful, and combined with the newfound speed sending them soaring over the surface, the occasional wave managed to crash over the deck of the ship and drench the crew.

Ladybug barely noticed, though.

Weaving between the men and finding her way to the front of the ship, she watched intently as the Lucky Charm and her crew grew ever closer. As they came within clearer sight, it soon became obvious that her crew had tracked down and attacked Hawkmoth themselves, if the hooks and ropes chaining his ship to hers said anything about it.

It wasn't uncommon to end up in skirmishes with him, but she'd never told her men to tie down the other Captain's ship before. He was too dangerous, too slippery. She always preferred to give him an out, an escape, rather than push him into a corner for him to lash out from. It was always better to lose him for another battle another day than risk her crew or even her ship to a man with no escape and nothing to lose.

But she wasn't there right now, and for all they knew, she really was dead this time. Logic and a sense of self preservation probably wasn't that high on their priorities at the moment.

Or, to say it in short, her crew were probably pissed and out for blood.

On the bright side, her luck was still holding steady. Along with the wind, the sun was behind them, hiding Natalie's ship in the glare of it dipping toward the horizon. Not to mention Hawkmoth and his crew were probably plenty distracted already, locked in a vicious battle against the crew of the Lucky Charm, and not in any position to notice the legion ship's approach. Overall, no one had any idea Ladybug was coming, and she'd be able to drop right in on their heads _entirely_ unexpected.

After all, everyone on both of those other ships still thought she was dead.

Another wave crashed over top of them, and Ladybug shivered. The way this battle was looking, the closer they got, this may very well be the last one. Neither side looked at all prepared to back out or retreat, both pushing for a bitter end to a many years long war.

Whatever happened today would be the end of it all. Either Hawkmoth went down, or she did.

Finally, they were practically on top of Hawkmoth's ship, the first mate doing a good job of steering just close enough that it almost looked like they'd graze the side of it. With her tiny window of opportunity rapidly approaching, Ladybug turned back while she still had time, and called out to Natalie's crew.

"Hey!" Multiple faces turned up and around to look at her, curiosity and still distrust coloring all but one. With their attention on her, she gave a warm smile, and a slight wave. "Thank you all for the help. I owe you one."

Distrust turned to shock, and then she was moving. Ladybug's boots hit the railing and then she was flying, soaring over the feet wide gap between the ships as they sailed far too closely past Hawkmoth's.

And then just like that, Natalie's ship and crew were past and gone, and Ladybug harshly rolled to her feet, coming face to face with Hawkmoth himself.

* * *

He reacted instantly, driving a sword into the deck where she'd been only a moment earlier. Ladybug pranced backwards, finding her balance, and drawing her own weapon from its place at her side. "Awww, did you miss me?" She taunted, offering him a too-sweet smile.

"I knew you'd be back, Ladybug. You just can't get the hint and _stay dead_ , can you?" Hawkmoth snarled back, rage evident on his face, and chasing forward after her for every step back with a vicious malice. It kept Ladybug on her toes, the pure furious determination making him faster than she was used to. Truly, he was putting everything he had into this fight, wanting her dead now more than ever.

That couldn't keep her from taunting him, though. It was just kind of what she did, and besides, making him angry enough had always made him sloppy.

"Man, I can't imagine being as bad at killing people as you. Can't even squish one little bug. Hasn't that been like, your entire campaign, for how long?" She jumped backward again, narrowly avoiding another strike of his cutlass, and continued talking. "Y'know, not to mention, what did I ever do to you? You wouldn't have to deal with me now if you'd left me alone in the first place."

"You _came back!_ " Hawkmoth growled, lunging for her, and managing to graze her cheek before she could dodge. Pain bloomed in the scratch as blood instantly began to drip out of it, and Ladybug winced, darting around behind the other Captain while he was overextended from the attack. Once she was at a safe distance again, his words caught up with her, and her cocky attitude was erased by confusion.

"I… Huh?"

He spun around and went right after her again, trying to back her into a corner. All she could do was parry his blows as best she could, deflecting the shining blade away from her body. Her heart caught in her throat on one particularly forceful swing, the pirate only managing to keep that sharpened point inches from her nose with her own sword while Hawkmoth pushed forward on it as hard as he could.

Taking that force to her advantage, Ladybug ducked out from under him as quickly as possible, leaving Hawkmoth to crash into the railing sword-first, catching the blade deeply in the wood. While he struggled to free it, she tried to slow her pounding heart, stepping as far from him as she could get.

"What are you talking about?" She tried again. The swirling thoughts from before were creeping back in, her usual raid focus falling away yet again to the endless coincidences that didn't make sense.

"Oh, Ladybug, dear little Ladybug." His voice was pure ice, the wood cracking into jagged splinters as he finally ripped the cutlass free. "Ignorance really is bliss, isn't it?"

What was he _talking_ about?

She kept her guard up, stamping down her nerves. Over the years, she'd gotten confident enough in herself that Hawkmoth wasn't all that scary anymore. Not many could call themselves brave enough to taunt the emotionless Captain, after all, and especially not to purposely annoy him on the regular. At this point, she hadn't felt hopelessly afraid of the man in a very long time.

But now?

That fear, the ice creeping through her veins the first time she ever saw him, was back with a vengeance. The way he turned, his eyes dark and without a shred of humanity, the way his face was contorting from pure rage. It made her feel small, pinned and helpless under his stare alone.

It was like when Chat had gone feral. Except this, this was _so_ much worse.

"If you haven't figured it out by now, you're never going to."

His voice was deep, dark, sending shivers down her spine. He was approaching again, too, his movements haggard and stiff, and Ladybug could slowly feel a distinct kind of terror trying to freeze her in place, something about his words and everything about his demeanor sending thousands of warning bells off in her head.

"Figure out what?" She forced out, her voice deceptively strong, and forced the rest of her to follow in its lead. As he lurched too close for comfort, she ducked out of the way again, forcefully taking control of her limbs back away from the icy terror trying to freeze them.

Either her dodging out of the way again sent him back into a rage, or he came back from whatever daze he'd just been in, but either way his speed came back in the blink of an eye. Ladybug blocked another of his strikes with her sword, only barely reacting in time as he was suddenly right back in her space yet again, and she couldn't help the startled yelp that escaped her.

He didn't answer her question, he didn't say anything. His eyes were still dark, more reminiscent of the deepest depths of the ocean than a human, and he was giving her no escape, no openings. The usual feeling of a sword fight was long gone, the taunting and the flashy dodges she liked to use far from her mind. This wasn't just an everyday thing, this wasn't normal.

Was this what a fight to the death looked like from the losing perspective?

Roughly, Hawkmoth pushed against his cutlass, putting more force behind it than Ladybug could block and sending her off balance backwards. The only thing that stopped her from careening off the edge was the railing, which groaned under her weight from the previous abuse it had endured. While she was down, trying to find her feet and unable to dodge, Hawkmoth raised his sword high, absolutely nothing in his expression.

But he paused, for just a moment. As if confused, or distracted, Ladybug didn't know. She took her chance.

She pushed off of the railing with everything she had, her sword clutched at her chest and the weight of her entire body behind it. In an instant, the tables turned, the other Captain having nowhere to go once he realized what she was doing, and then the tip of her blade hit home.

With a dreadful noise, she collided full body into Hawkmoth's chest, her hands suddenly warm and wet. Jumping back away and out of arm's' reach with a feeling of horror, Ladybug could only stare with wide eyes as she took in the sight before her, of the older man standing upright and dead still with her cutlass plunged all the way through his torso.

For a moment, nothing moved. No one breathed. The world came to a screeching halt, even the sounds of fighting on the decks below had gone to a dead silence as everyone witnessed the end.

And then Hawkmoth's hand rose, gripping onto the handle of Ladybug's sword, and ripped it from his own body. Blood sprayed across the floor and the pirate herself, frozen in place as she was, and she could only watch him raise his head.

"Poor, ignorant Ladybug."

He should be dead.

 _He should be dead._

 _ **Why isn't he dead?**_

"You just don't get it, do you? _I cannot be defeated._ "

Hawkmoth was laughing, sending more blood pouring from his _fatal_ wound, and Ladybug couldn't move at all. He was getting closer, her own sword drenched in his blood in his hand, and she couldn't move. She couldn't escape. She couldn't _do_ anything.

Ladybug could do nothing but watch as Hawkmoth raised his boot and kicked her square in the chest, hard enough to send her crashing back through the weakened railing and right into the icy water below. The surface closed over her head, her body seized up, fire blooming inside her chest as she dropped like a lead weight.

The wind completely knocked out of her, her lungs were shuddering, instinctively trying to replace her lost air and unable to stop as water flooded in instead. The more they spasmed, trying to recover from the blow, the more water she got and the more desperate her already panicked body became for air. A weakness was setting in already, her limbs unresponsive as she tried desperately to reach for the surface.

It was too familiar. The water pressing in on all sides, the pain, the desperation with nothing to save her, the man responsible safely above the surface. Instead of actual chains and weights this time, the only thing dragging her down was her own body and her inability to move, to save herself. It was like the start of this entire mess, all over again, except this time…

…

… _Wait._

Her hazy mind conjured images of pink, of white frills. Of blood pouring out of her, turning the water above red. Of pain, not in her chest, but in her stomach, of intense burning as saltwater poured into an open wound.

Green eyes, desperate and terrified, appeared above her. She reached out, reached for the gentle hands and golden hair, but her fingers found only water where her blurring mind told her he should be.

A name escaped her lips. A name she didn't know.

A name she couldn't remember.

A name he _needed to know._

 _He needed to know_

 _He had to…_

 _Stop…_

… _Him._


	13. Scattered Ashes

There was nothing.

For how long, she couldn't know.

Then as suddenly as it had gone, air hit her wet face, startling her and forcing coughs out of her throat. Water came with each forceful spasm, her lungs and throat and nose burned, she felt so tired. Everything was still hazy, blurry, unable to keep up with anything. There shouldn't be air, why is there air? She couldn't swim, she's not at the surface, she can't-

There were firm, warm arms wrapped around her, keeping her head above the water even as it lulled from weakness. She shivered, her body unable to decide whether it wanted to be tense or limp, and everything hurt. Her hands found their way to bare shoulders somehow, and finally realizing her eyes were still wrenched shut, the waterlogged pirate forced them open.

The salt water still on her face burned, but the welcoming green that filled her vision was worth it.

They're bright, shining and glowing in the fading evening light. She can see concern, a caring warmth, everything she'd missed. His grip on her was tight but gentle, and she's so incredibly relieved.

"Is this going to become a thing, my Lady? Not that I mind, but I'd rather you not try to drown every time you'd like me around."

His tone was light, teasing, even with the worry clear on his face. There's something else there, too, something new. His demeanor is lighter, warmer, an almost carefree quality to him. Ladybug can't quite place it yet, but she liked it. He looked less sad, less torn. Smiling back at him, tiredly, Ladybug quipped back as well as she could with her scratchy voice. "Thanks, I'll try to find a better method next time."

Chat chuckled, quietly, and Ladybug almost pushed out of his arms when she remembered where she was.

"Chat! Hawkmoth is on that ship." She hissed, all manner of joking gone from her voice. Chat sobered just as quickly, nodding.

"I know. I figured he was here. What happened?"

"I don't know! He didn't die!"

"... Did you stab him hard enough?"

"I'm not kidding!"

She jabbed him in the arm, and he winced.

"Sorry."

Defeated, Ladybug looked away. "... Chat, I don't know what to do." She really doesn't. She's a pirate, an annoying vigilante. What is she supposed to do about someone who apparently can't die? Chat wrestles one hand free, holding her up still with the other, and gently takes hold of her chin to make her face him.

His face is so close, his hand on hers so delicate, and she knows she's gone bright red. Those green eyes are half lidded, their depths filled with such warmth that she's never seen before and yet feels so achingly familiar. She's drawn in, trying to figure out where or how she's seen this before, and doesn't notice he's gotten closer until his forehead bonks into hers.

"Ladybug." He said, cutting through her thoughts, and pulling her focus more into the moment. "Listen, you're not alone, okay? You did a great job standing against him on your own, but you've got people to rely on, too. You can do this, and I'll be right there this time if you need help, okay?"

"I can't rely on you for everything." Ladybug can't stop herself from whispering. She feels defeated, weak, after everything that's happened. She couldn't defeat her enemy on her own, she keeps getting saved like some damsel in distress. If not for Chat, she'd be dead at least twice over by now, and what's a pirate that can't stay alive on their own worth?

"Hey now, don't think like that." The mermaid nudged her where their heads meet, as if trying to physically push the thoughts away. "You've done everything on your own until now, and I know you still can, but I want to help. Besides, if Hawkmoth didn't die, maybe you need something a little more destructive to throw at him?"

He winked at that last line, bringing to mind images of bared fangs and acidic spikes, and slowly Ladybug forced the doubt from her mind. She could deal with her feelings of failure later, for now Hawkmoth was still right in their grasp and her crew was at his mercy. And if he was indeed as eerily indestructible as it had seemed, then she could think of nothing better than a mermaid with an understanding of magic to turn the tide on what would otherwise be an impossible battle.

Finally, she nodded, determined. Chat's eyes lit up at that, filling her gaze with dazzling green. "Okay! Let's do this!"

The pirate hadn't noticed before, but he must have specifically pulled her to the surface directly below Hawkmoth's ship. They were pressed right against the wood just above where it met the water, out of sight of anyone on board, and now Chat only had to turn around and find handholds to start climbing up. Ladybug almost squeaked when he did it without even letting go of her, leaving her to cling to his body and let him carry her up.

While he climbed, she couldn't stop at least one thought from cutting into her tentatively returning focus. "Chat, why did you come back? Why are you helping me?"

He was silent for a moment, focusing on not slipping. Once they were near the top, he paused, and she pulled back enough to look at him. His brows were drawn together, pensive. "Because… Well, it's a long story. But this is how it's supposed to be."

She opened her mouth to protest, that there were so many reasons about this that was wrong. But she couldn't actually bring any to mind, right now, before he touched his nose to hers and effectively shut her up before she'd even started.

"I'll explain everything soon, I promise, but for now you'll just have to trust me. We need to take care of this problem of yours first." He pulled back, and nodded up toward the deck. "Go on, you head up first. I'll be right behind you."

Ladybug firmly nodded, shoving the last of her protests and worries to the back of her mind. With his help, she caught the edge of the deck, and hauled herself back up to the place she'd been kicked from.

The floorboards were still coated in blood, and Hawkmoth had his back to her, staring out over the resumed destruction of the two clashing crews below. He didn't notice her at first, but she was weaponless and neither of their cutlasses were anywhere within reach, and he was turning back to look over his shoulder before she could think of anything else.

"Oh, not you again." He hissed. "You really should just stay where you _belong_."

From both his back, and his front when he turned to face her, she could see the still bleeding and jagged wound she'd left straight through his body. It gave her a crawling feeling, seeing the gore and the way he acted as if it wasn't even there.

"What are you?" She couldn't stop the words from slipping out, and he laughed. It was a twisted, maniacal sound.

"You would know better than I, if you hadn't… forgotten…"

He trailed off, his eyes drawing past her, and the morbid amusement drained from his face along with all the color. Just like all those years before, in the first moment she ever met him, Hawkmoth's face morphed into shock and absolute recognition. Afraid of what that might mean, Ladybug slowly turned to follow his gaze,and caught sight of Chat halfway up onto the deck with her.

Frozen in place, he held the same expression.

Oh, no.

" _You."_ Chat hissed.

"I see you've finally found your… cat." Hawkmoth spat with just as much distaste. The tension in the air was palpable, and Ladybug almost couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had to be wrong, this couldn't be what she thought it was.

"Chat…"

He answered before she could even ask, his eyes not leaving the other man.

"Yes, Ladybug. This is the _same_ Hawkmoth."

The aforementioned Captain laughed, a wicked, humorless sound. "Oh yes, it's me. How terrible."

Chat's eyes were slits, his head fins pinned down, but he didn't look nearly as vicious as she would have expected when face to face with _the_ same Hawkmoth that had taken everything from him. This was something completely different from when he'd lost control and gone after Natalie, this was a _controlled_ , non-violent aggression.

What had changed since he left?

This man was the one who killed his soulmate, and here he was, standing right in front of Chat all these years later.

And here was Chat, completely in control and yet to make a move.

"How are you still alive?" Shaking it off for now, Ladybug swung back around, facing Hawkmoth and letting her confused frustration leak into her voice. This was like her back and forth with herself earlier, but _worse_ , because now half of it was confirmed and it made _even less sense than before._ Instead of explaining anything, though, Hawkmoth just gave her a look that made her blood boil. It was as if he was looking at a dull child, who couldn't understand even the simplest of things.

"You're not ever going to figure anything out if you haven't by now."

What was **that** supposed to mean?

"Enough of this." Hawkmoth brandished the same cutlass from before, hers, the one still covered in his own blood, and pointed it at Chat. " _You've_ got what I want now."

The mermaid bristled, but he didn't react. He was so much calmer than last time, Ladybug almost would have thought she'd somehow ended up with the _wrong_ mermaid. All the same, she stepped in front of him, glaring at Hawkmoth.

"Don't you _dare._ "

"Unarmed and still trying to be the hero. Suit yourself, maybe if he's gone you'll finally stay dead."

It didn't make sense. It didn't make sense. There was something else here. Everything he said, everything he did, everything _Chat_ had said, she was _missing_ something.

Something important.

Something very, very important.

But no matter what she did, what she thought, or how deep she tried to dig, she _couldn't find it._

She couldn't see the way Chat's face suddenly lit up with an idea behind her, the way he grinned at Hawkmoth with a cockiness that could rival her own usual demeanor. All she knew was when he put his hands on her waist, and leaned over her shoulder right into her ear. The contact was more familiar than it should have been.

"Hey, Marinette?"

Her skin prickled. Something tugged at the back of her mind.

" _My name is Adrien."_

* * *

It was as if everything tore apart all at once, as if the wood beneath her feet shattered into thousands of pieces of glass. She felt like she was falling and weightless all at once as the world shuddered and cascaded, blurring and bleeding into something she didn't understand.

 _The water was cool, comforting, as she clung to the side of the ship. Fear and apprehension coursed through her, her heart beating too fast, her every instinct on edge. This was the worst place to be, too dangerous, especially alone._

Her head hurt, pounding as too much happened at once. She couldn't tell which way was up or what gravity was or where she even was, everything was colors and reflections and a clamor of sounds that all garbled together.

 _She felt warm, comfortable, nestled in amongst the sand. The coral above, hiding the little space, branched across the backdrop of the sky far above the surface. It was lovely, watching the waves ripple so far away, distorting the sun. Though she was even happier once it was replaced with a much better view, the sky blocked out behind blonde locks and shining green peering into her vision._

Slowly, the glass shards of her awareness seemed to be stitching themselves back together, the blurs and the swashes of color beginning to form back into something. Piece by piece, cracks and blank spaces began to fill in, as if they'd never been empty at all.

 _Pain, pain, like a searing fire, burning through her back. It hurt to move, to breath, every shift of muscle making her want to scream. But the hands on her scales, the soothing voice in her ears, the calming presence that never left her side, was more than enough to make it bearable. Even as he had to make it worse, remove the object so she could heal, that was okay. He was here, she would be fine._

Ladybug watched as, what looked like the world itself, fused broken edges back together from where she hadn't even realized they were bare. As if the lost pieces of a puzzle had suddenly been found, and she could watch, even as her head ached and her blood burned, that it was all fitting back where it should.

 _Blush as bright as her scales and heart beating out of her chest, she barely knew what to do, how to act. He was so pretty, so lively, bright and shining as the sun as he smiled at her like she was the entire world. "Because to me, you are." He'd say, so many times, and she couldn't help the excited trembling in her hands as he took them in his own. He was beyond her wildest dreams. A soulmate._ _ **Her**_ _soulmate._

It was jarring, feeling moments flit in and out of her attention as they fell together. One would be there, and then gone, but then there would be more of it, and it made so little sense and yet she understood.

 _Heated skin, wandering touches, their tails entwined together and the feeling of everything being right. Even if no ever moment was ever as perfect as this one, ever again, she knew she would still be happy just to have this. As she leaned her head back against the sand and listened to the purring, she couldn't help but hope for the rest of their shared lives to be just as perfect. With him, she knew they would._

Flashes of sights and feelings, so familiar and recognizable at first glance and gone in a moment, replaced by more. She didn't need to wonder, didn't need to question. It all clicked together, even as the pieces came out of order.

Watching the sunset from a rock in the middle of the sea, right by him. Diving in and out of the water, laughing and playing like children. Exploring the depths, popping out of dark caves, scaring the other. Late nights, sprawled on beaches, considering the stars above. Watching shadows pass by on the waves overhead, never quite knowing. So many moments best left private, hidden away beneath a forest of coral. The water felt as natural to her as air, swimming as mindless as breathing. The phantom feeling of a tail she didn't have, and the too heavy feeling of her legs. Looking down and seeing frills of white, just as normal as seeing the reflection of her own face.

It all made sense.

Every piece of the puzzle clicked together, forming a seamless lifetime of memories she'd lost for so long, and cherished now more than ever. These were hers, _this_ was her. The lost feeling, the tug always pulling her to the ocean, the feeling of nostalgia or homesickness finally quieted, placed only by the pull of a connection toward the person right behind her.

" _I told you not to ever call me by my name! Don't you know the water has ears?" He shouted, voice too loud above the water, making her wince where she hid against the ship. But that was it. That was what she needed. She'd done it now, she knew the answer, knew how to stop the slaughtering of her friends. All she had to do was get back to Adrien, and together they could-_

 _Her tail was caught. Her frills tangled in ropes, snagged on weights, pulling away from the water, leaving her nowhere to hide and no escape._

The last pieces clicked in place, just as they'd happened.

The water above, turning red, too much blood to be diluted into nothing before her eyes. Her tail following her sinking form limply, her hands feeling cold. It burned, it hurt, she felt so weak and dizzy. He appeared before her, tragic horror reflected in the green she so wished could be shining with warmth like it should instead.

"No, no no no!"

Fuzzy, distant. She wanted to reach out to him, hold him close and tell him it would all be okay because they were together. He wasn't supposed to look so sad, she didn't like when he was sad. She wanted to make him happy, forever, to watch him light up brighter than the sun like he always did.

But he needed to know. He could still do it, he could still stop him, he just needed his name. She needed to tell him, why couldn't she tell him? Her body wasn't responding, she couldn't move, she couldn't feel her fingers or her fins anymore, it all felt so cold.

"Please, stay with me. You can't go. I can't do this without you." He must be crying so hard. She couldn't see the tears, but she could imagine. It hurt so much, why did it have to hurt so much? This wasn't how it was supposed to go. This wasn't where she wanted their story to end. They had so much more to look forward to, so many years they'd never have. "Marinette, please. Not like this. Please, _please_ …"

He needed to know. But she couldn't tell him. The only way to stop any more of their kind from being killed, the only knowledge of how to do so, were going to die with her. There was nothing she could do. He was screaming, she thinks, but it's so far away.

 _Please, I… I wish for this to be right._

Her eyes fluttered shut. The world faded away into the dark and cold, his voice going with it. She was so weak, so tired.

 _I don't want to give up._

There was nothing more.

* * *

As quickly as it had begun, the world rushed back into place. Ladybug felt heavy, weak, her breathing suddenly desperate and her heart racing. Gravity was too heavy, air too thick, the fading light was far too bright and the clamor of battle was too loud. Her legs were trembling and she stumbled, almost crumpling to the floor, and stopped only by the strong and warm presence that felt like an extension of herself.

Turning her head, sluggishly, only made the suffocating blanket of reality thicker. He was there, holding her steady, unwavering as ever. Even as her demise had aged him in ways time could not, he was exactly the same as the day she'd met him and yet so completely different. Weakened before by time, distance, and mourning, the connection she felt tugging toward him had become thick as the ocean itself and refusing to budge ever again, just the same as his expression was telling.

Slowly, she turned back ahead, something burning as she laid eyes on Hawkmoth. Without a doubt, now, he _was_ the same. The same as he was years ago, untouched by time but infected with rage, a wound left to fester for all the time she hadn't known. He was staring at her with caution, distrust, muted fear, a swirling pot of negative emotion so strong even she felt like she could feel it coming off of him in waves.

Before, she might have expected to feel some kind of indignation, or rage, or _something_. She'd thought Chat's long lost soulmate would be upset at her killer, if she could see him now, or to feel angry at him for taking away what she'd had. And now that she knew that girl was her, she almost expected the same kind of burning hatred to fill her, the feeling of cold discomfort she'd felt the moment she'd met him in this life.

But, in reality?

She felt pity.

Here was a man who, years ago, for some reason was driven to commit crimes against what was once her people. But what had it been, again? He'd wanted something, had a reason for what he'd done, something that made him deem the murders necessary.

And now, years upon years later, he was unchanged. He hadn't aged a day. He was still bleeding from what should have been a fatal wound.

Finally, Ladybug understood.

"Hawkmoth." Her voice was steady, with a ring to it that startled even her. Something mystical, alluring, that brought all attention straight to her. "I understand now."

"You understand _nothing,_ Ladybug." He only spat back, venom in his voice but a tremor in his hands. She pulled from Chat's grip, ignoring the faint whine from him when she did, and approached slowly. The other Captain matched her step for step, backing away just as cautiously as she drew closer. "You'll never understand."

"But I _do._ " She could feel Chat tense more and more as she approached her own murderer, but he didn't stop her, trust holding him back. Fear and concern were coursing through him and into their connection just as strongly as she could see Hawkmoth experiencing, but she was calm. It was as if everything had been a storm, relentless rain and crashing waves, and now she could see the sun on the other side while the other two were still caught in the turmoil. Hawkmoth's back hit the rail, nowhere further for him to back away to. "You had a good reason, didn't you? The world wronged you and you wanted it righted."

He was silent. The sword in his grip lowered, his arm going lax. Chat watched its every movement like a hawk.

"You never meant for it to become like this." She pressed, gently, her hands outstretched placatingly, and watched him eye her suspiciously as if expecting a trick. Slowly, he spoke, his tone low and unnerved.

"You did this to me."

"I didn't." The pirate corrected, instantly. "You killed me, Hawkmoth. It isn't my fault that killing a mermaid granted you immortality instead of a wish."

"I-" His hands shook more, the sword trembled in his grasp. She watched it from the corner of her eye, waiting, hoping for it to clatter to the floor. "You were supposed to bring her back."

"No one can bring back the dead. That was never a wish any of us could have granted you, or anyone else, no matter how much we might have wanted to."

A beat passed in total silence.

No one moved.

Ladybug held her breath, waiting. It felt like she was so close, she knew all the answers now, the end was _finally_ within her grasp-

She was too slow to notice the life flood back into Hawkmoth, or the way he was suddenly moving, his grip on the sword tight enough to make his knuckles turn white. For her, all she saw was stillness, and then a blur, and she couldn't react in time to stop it again.

But Chat could.

Before she could even register what had happened, the sword was _gone_ and there was a snarling mermaid between her and her would-be twice over killer, the previous controlled aggression completely unleashed on the unwitting Captain. Hawkmoth was caught underneath a whirlwind of pent up fury and trapped between the rail and hundreds of pounds of pure mermaid muscle.

Although beyond that, Chat did nothing. There were no claws or teeth buried in flesh, or acid burning the floorboards. Only an immobile wall between the two of them, a growling barrier and a burning glare that advised no further movement. Hawkmoth had no choice but to freeze, unarmed and pinned.

"Say the word and he's gone, Ladybug." The words came out throaty and vicious, Chat no doubt only inches from just offing the Captain anyway. Shaking her head, she kneeled beside the two.

"No, Chat. I'm not sure how well it would work even if you did try."

Hawkmoth hissed, earning a more forceful cautionary push from the mermaid. "Savages, both of you. Debating how to kill me, typical."

"Shut. Up." Chat pushed harder, getting a winded grunt from the pinned Captain. Ladybug laid a hand on his shoulder, urging him to let up the tiniest bit.

"I don't want to kill you, Hawkmoth. But this does need to end." He was watching her, defiance burning in his glare, and she ignored the way it pricked her skin. "Do you really want to continue like this? Chasing after ghosts of the past, alone, for all eternity?"

He was silent, again.

"You made the choice long ago to come after us for a reason. But it's changed nothing, hasn't it? All of this conquest against mermaids has only made it all worse. You know that, don't you?"

Finally, slowly, he spoke again. "I thought you could do anything. That you could fix it."

"But that's not what happened."

Hawkmoth sighed, defeated. "No."

Giving him an almost sympathetic smile, Ladybug tilted her head. "None of this has fixed anything. Don't you think it's time to let it end?"

No response. She pressed harder.

"Unless you want to live forever, unhappy, then you need to work with me now. I'm the only one that can undo your curse, Hawkmoth."

"Curse?" Chat and the Captain both echoed at once, and subsequently glared at each other harder. Ladybug sighed.

"Yes, curse. It makes sense, doesn't it? The punishment for killing a mermaid is never being able to die, though at first immortality may seem like a prize. In the end, it's a curse." It was the best she could understand with what she remembered, backed up by Chat's explanation days ago of why humans would want to kill mermaids. "… The reason you did it was for someone else, wasn't it? Someone you loved?"

Hawkmoth looked away. He said nothing.

Realizing he would never willingly give into her, not after a grudge held so tightly for so long, Ladybug reached out. Both men tensed, Chat for her safety and Hawkmoth for his own, but she only laid a hand on the immortal Captain's shoulder.

Just through that contact, she could feel it. A disconnect, a coldness. Her own curse, her own death, chaining him to this world, while tying him to the next. It was eerie, disconcerting, but she ignored it as best she could and powered on. Besides, she'd felt the other world once already, it was nothing new.

She knew how to end this. She was sure she did.

" _Gabriel."_ The name finally escaped her, finally fell from her voice after she had held it in death for so long. "Please, pass on from this world and find your lost love. Be at peace. _I forgive you."_

He froze, staring wide eyed at her. Underneath her touch, she felt the cold connection snap, fading away like dust on the wind. Chat felt it too, no doubt, if the way he reeled backward as if burned meant anything.

"I… I don't understand," Hawkmoth breathed, his voice already going wispy and weak, beginning to age right in front of them. Ladybug watched the wrinkles appear in his skin, counted them and the years as they went, and gave him the kindest look she could.

"I forgive you." She reiterated. "You only did what you thought best. Misguided, maybe, but you were following what you thought was right for you."

For the first time, she saw guilt on his face. Never in all her years tormenting him as a pirate had she seen him show remorse, for anything he'd done. But now, finally, presented with forgiveness despite it all, she could see humanity catch up to him along with the time. "I'm sorry." He finally said, and she knew. He meant it.

"It's okay." She'd opened her mouth to say the words, but they came in the form of Chat's voice instead. Both Captains turned to look as the mermaid drew closer and joined them on the floor, his expression also softened in the moment from the aggression it had been previously. "She's right. I would have done the same thing, if I was in your… feet? What's that saying again?"

"Shoes." Hawkmoth corrected, his voice raspy as an old man and weakening just as fast. Chat grinned, and Ladybug felt her heart swell. The dying Captain didn't _have_ to explain that, to correct Chat so simply and without venom, but he _did._

Maybe there was hope for the world, after all.

"I would have done the same thing if I was in your _shoes_ , then. I forgive you too." He was nodding as he spoke, and Ladybug found herself watching him. She could forgive the Captain for all he'd done to her, but she never expected Chat to do so as well, at least not so easily.

"You're both fools." Hawkmoth sighed, shaking his head. Ladybug didn't miss the way his skin powdered at the movement, his body beginning to turn to dust before their very eyes.

"Maybe. But I'd rather be a fool than go back to holding onto pain." The mermaid explained, somber. "None of it ever helped us, any of us."

There was a heavy pause, and then, finally, "No. No, it did not." Hawkmoth agreed.

Chat held out a hand. "To the next life. Perhaps we'll meet again, under better circumstances." And to Ladybug's surprise, their shared age-long rival took Chat's hand in his own weakened one.

"To the next life, mermaid."

His time was out. With the last of the magic broken and gone, there was nothing else holding Hawkmoth in the here and now, and he could keep himself there no longer. His body went slack for just a moment, then crumbled to dust to be swept away by the sea air. Ladybug watched it go, what remained of the worst enemy she'd known, peacefully put to rest in the ocean. Beside her, Chat watched the ashes drift from his hand.

For just one moment, one long, wondrous moment, the world was still and at peace.

"Is it…" The mermaid began to ask, watching the dust on the wind. Before he could finish his thought, the wood beneath their feet began to groan and crack, boards shattering out of nowhere and the entire ship swaying harshly.

Adrenaline shot through Ladybug, and she lurched to her feet. The wood protested under her movement, only further fueling her panic as she spun to face the lower decks. "All of you! Hawkmoth's ship is going down, if you want to live you'd best board mine while you still can!" She shouted, using her commanding Captain voice. Her crew didn't need to be told twice, they were already bolting for the side where the two ships were hooked together, but the legion crew looked less sure.

"I'd suggest listening to the Lady unless you'd like to be fish food." Chat appeared beside her, smirking over the rails at the uncertain soldiers. Whether it was his words or the idea of being lost in the water with creatures like him, it worked, and they were soon scrambling after the retreating pirate crew. Turning back to her, the mermaid gave her a mildly concerned look. "You got this?"

"Of course. Go stay in the water until it's safe." She commanded, and aside from a single lingering glance that held more than either could say at the moment, he didn't argue before flipping off the side of the ship and into the water below. They would have time to talk later.

With him gone, Ladybug turned her attention back to the situation at hand. The ship under her feet was crumbling, decaying in an instant and falling prey to the hungry waters below. Most of the deck was unstable, filling with cracks and holes all across its surface, but she wasn't afraid of that. Eying the most sturdy route, the pirate took off, darting down the stairs to the lower deck and taking careful steps around the gaping cracks that led into darkened quarters below.

Soon enough, she had reached the edge and for the second time that day, flung herself over the rails and onto the ship by its side. It wasn't the easier of the two jumps, but she still made it, albeit barely. Crashing chest first right into the railing of her own ship, her first mate was there in an instant to grab hold of her and keep her from falling into the water again.

"Cut the hooks!" Ladybug shouted the instant she made contact, and allowing Alya to cling to her form and haul her aboard. The rest of the crew were already on it, slicing through the ropes tying the Lucky Charm to Hawkmoth's sinking ship, and it went down with nothing else to hold it above water anymore.

And finally, it was over. As the tallest mast of the purple ship disappeared under the waves, Ladybug _finally_ breathed a deep sigh and collapsed against her best friend, the entire past week catching up to her now in an instant. The peace she felt was broken only by one thing.

"Welcome back, Marinette." Alya smirked down at her. "You need to tell me _everything."_

* * *

 **A/N**

 **There it is.**  
 **There it all is.**  
 **Hawkmoth is gone, Ladybug remembers who she was, and Chat has found what he lost.**  
 **I didn't want this to be a typical violent ending. Canon Ladybug isn't like that, and my pirate Ladybug isn't a bad person either. It didn't feel right to just kill Hawkmoth. He wasn't a villain for the sake of it, just a misguided man who made the wrong decisions and has been stuck with his immortality and his pain for too long. Ladybug and Chat could both see now that they needed to be the change, to end this cycle of murder and pain.**  
 **And with this, Ladybug has earned her second chance.**

 **There may be an epilogue to come.**


End file.
